The Truth isn't Always Clear

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Mercy | Gunblade Master | Adamantian
Character | Vault & Tracker
Golden Lacrima until 2/5/2025

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by **Vandrad Ragnos** 28th May 2023, 6:51 pm

Vandrad du Wolff-Ragnos | Energy Monarch | Ark of the Dread Masters | Traveller of the Multiverse | Bank
Golden Lacrima - Good until 7/16/2023

Vandrad Ragnos: - - -
Lineage : Traveller of the Multiverse
Position : None
Posts : 792
Guild : Fairy Tail
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 8,080,767

Character Sheet
First Skill: Energy Monarch
Second Skill: Ark of the Dread Masters
Third Skill:

Post n°2

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Vandrad Ragnos 28th May 2023, 6:51 pm

There’s no fair or unfair in battle.

( There is only victory or in your case, defeat. )

Vandrad imagined this meeting wasn’t going to go well.

Based on everything he’d seen from Mercury’s recording, there were a lot of holes -- or lies -- being told by either Maker or Blade. His money was on the former, considering his history even with the future king. Maker weaved a very intricate, complicated web of painting himself as a martyr for crimes he couldn’t help but commit. He created this image of himself as a warrior of righteousness and justice while all the evidence of such was in his words and his mannerisms. Vandrad didn’t doubt Mercury’s ability to read a person -- hell, he’d wager her against most anyone on the planet, save Mythal -- but there were a lot of pieces to a very complicated puzzle and most of them didn’t seem to even belong.

But, and not to play devil’s advocate, Blade’s anger and hatred for Maker left an opening for misinterpretation. While he’d claimed that his brother and he had always felt Maker was off, there was the possibility that he was filling in gaps that painted him in a better light as well. And who's to say that the ruling party of their planet hadn’t seen the opportunity to assimilate other worlds as one they should act upon? Blade claimed Maker was capable of deceiving anyone with promises of advancement and that was seemingly true in their world, if the Dread Masters were any example. There were too many conclusions to be drawn and not enough evidence to truly rule which side was trying to pull off a deception.

Yet it didn’t really matter if Maker was telling the truth. Though he knew better than to simply make judgements and not be willing to forgive, the Terran terrorist had done enough to warrant Vandrad wishing him dead. He’d attempted to have Vandrad killed and marr him for life and he’d gone out of his way to attack his family, an attack that resulted in the destruction of his family home. Whether it was for his own purpose, he had sown ire in the future king and there was no forgiveness for his actions. What was left was to see if he took the steps to acknowledge those wrong doings and accept whatever punishment that came his way. That was the only way that Vandrad would consider anything other than death.

They gathered for another meeting, with far fewer people than before. All the important people that were in on the investigation and would be available to act when the time came had been invited. Once everyone had arrived and taken their seats, Mercury began the meeting, opting to skip over pleasantries and prologues and get right into the meat of why they were there. She had discovered where Maker’s ship was, in addition to Knowhere, which prompted Blade to move a bit closer in his seat. Unfortunately, at the moment, they didn’t have access to it, as it had been stored in some kind of pocket dimension that only Maker had access to. It was possible that Mercury could earn his trust enough in time but that would be a slow process and wasn’t something she could rush into. As for all the other information, it seemed easier to just show them what she had experienced firsthand. She’d found out a lot and plenty of it had been troubling so it seemed easier to let Maker do the talking. Hopefully Blade and Genesis would have an easier time picking apart any lies that he said. And with that, she summoned a monitor at the head of the table and began to playback her memories.

The room sat in relative silence as they observed what she had experienced. They watched as Mercury ‘broke down’ and lashed out at Maker, resulting in him opening up a bit about his feelings and thoughts and his own experiences with ‘oppression’. He attempted to win Mercury over with an offering to grant her freedom and destroy the Nazru while raining compliments down upon her. He gave her time to consider it and then the recording skipped to a few days later, when they revisited the topic. He presented a clear cut plan to her and when she tackled his sudden shift to being caring and giving, he spoke of his actions from the scope of his own purview. Apparently he’d never intended to enslave her; he was just fascinated with her and wanted to work with her directly. And his big show of proving his trust was to teleport them to his ship, which came disguised as a castle. He equated it to a living ship and told her what he’d learned about the Time Before and the Ancient Ones that had ruled it before its end.

And that opened up Maker’s version of what happened with the All-Knowing. There was a shift in the tension in the room as Blade sat there, staring daggers into the screen. It was not hard to sense his anger, despite how well he tried to keep it reined in. That anger only faltered at the mention of a name; Minotia and Blade looked utterly confused by it, as well as Genesis. But they didn’t remark on it at first, opting to remain silent even as Maker claimed that he accidentally imbued himself with knowledge and opted to play the villain out of guilt for his actions. Worse was that he didn’t even hate Blade; he wanted to keep him alive, as his last living relative. And when Mercury charged him with the loaded question of why he continued, he doubled down on his enjoyment of the life he had finally taken control of, lamenting its origins but proud in what he had done with it, even if he claimed otherwise.

The ship itself was fascinating, once they went to it. But the most interesting part was when Knowhere was shown and Maker explained about that. Soon after that, the footage came to an end.

“He is lying,” Blade replied coolly, even before the footage had even fully stopped.

"What is he lying about?” Vandrad asked.

“All of it. He is painting himself as a victim, a martyr for the actions of other greedy people from my world. But I remember; he was proud of the All-Knowing and boasted about it, using his influence to inspire the government to build it. He was not oppressed by anyone; if anything, he wormed his way into their graces. It’s clear he’s lying simply because he called me Minotia; that is not my Terran name. He is making things up to try and garner favor and pity.”

Blade turned to look at Genesis, expecting to find equal support. But the homunculus looked pensive, his eyes slightly glazed over as he thought. “Genesis?” Blade spoke up to catch his attention.

“Minotia is… a strange name to use. Especially because I know he is aware of your real name. He’s the one that told me it. I’ve never heard this mention of Minotia before. That… paints a troubling picture,” Genesis stroked his chin. “That is Knowhere but I’ve never seen this ship before. I connected to Knowhere through that helmet; believe it or not, it does actually alter shape to fit this,” he said, gesturing to his ‘crown’. “He’d used something else and claimed it was Knowhere. Perhaps he was hiding its true place from me as well.”

“See? More lies!” Blade said.

“But.” Genesis continued, speaking up and interrupting Blade’s moment. “He’s not entirely incorrect. I think there’s something else going on here.”

"What do you mean ‘not entirely incorrect’?” Vandrad spoke up before Blade could.

“Well, lest we forget, I’ve been connected to Knowhere. Maker wanted me to be highly educated in a quick amount of time. And, of course, I wanted to know what happened to Teras Prime. Unfortunately, most of the knowledge about it was blocked off… but there was a way to work around it, slightly. I wanted to know about Teras Prime’s most ambitious projects. I’m not sure why but that bypassed whatever blocks Maker had put in place and revealed something surprising, something I didn’t quite know how to process until now. One of the voices showcased a list of different projects but one of them was the All-Knowing. What was interesting is they were stamped as property of the Terran Imperium.”

Blade’s face froze, his eyes widening slightly. He was caught speechless so it was up to Vandrad to speak again. "And what’s so strange about that?”

“The ruling body of Teras Prime was called the Terran Parliamentary Democracy. That and most of those blueprints had their originators listed as the property owner. That includes several that I saw that had Maker’s Terran name on there. It was curious but I figured it was, perhaps, something that Maker had altered himself as a way of misleading me. Which, if I’m being honest, would have been the first time he’d done so. For all his faults, Maker very rarely lied to me. And he was never cruel to me; I honestly thought it was because I was one of his creations. But the Maker we saw with Mercury was the one I’m used to seeing.”

“So what are you saying, Genesis? That Maker is telling the truth?” Blade demanded, turning to face the homunculus.

“I’m not declaring anything, Blade. I’m just giving you the facts. As I said, I think something else is going on. I think the effects of the All-Knowing are far more grievous than we thought. It may have destroyed parts of his mind, making him clinically insane. But what he said about Teras Prime, well…” He turned to look at Blade. “You are absolutely certain of Maker’s actions on the world? That he took advantage of the government and got himself placed in a threshold of trust that they would give him free reign like this?”

A moment passed. Then two. Nearly ten seconds of absolute silence as Blade’s mouth opened and then closed, his eyes wandering slightly in thought. His head cocked slightly. “I… yes, it has to be… right? I didn’t make it up, I know what happened… but…” There was a slight draining of color from Blade’s face. “I-I don’t know.”

And that, in itself, carried a lot of weight to it.

Words: 1724 | Tag: @Mercury Arseneault | marzia at shine & gs.

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by **Serilda Sinclair** 29th May 2023, 10:15 am

Serilda Sinclair

Serilda Sinclair: Ice Queen; - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lineage : Scion of the Void King
Position : Goddess of Conviction
Faction : The Rune Knights
Posts : 1453
Guild : Guildless
Cosmic Coins : 155
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 12,421,054

Character Sheet
First Skill: Voidwalking
Second Skill: Sword of Wrath
Third Skill: Cruorthurgy

Post n°3

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Serilda Sinclair 29th May 2023, 10:15 am

Conviction never shames nor condemns us.
It calls us back to who we truly are.

Mercury had been gone on her mission for roughly two weeks, and while Serilda hadn’t been fill with any overt sense of worry or concern, it was still a relief to hear back from the Silver Wolf mage upon her return. A meeting to debrief was called in relatively short order, and within twenty-four hours of receiving the notice Serilda and Mythal found themselves once again on New Rhaegar, having brough Patricia and Hosrius along with them.

The future queen wasted no time in getting things started, giving a brief overview of her larger findings before simply throwing her field cam footage on the screen for everyone to watch. Serilda observed the findings in studious silence, a neutral frown of consideration on her face as she watched. This being her first true exposure to Maker, the noblewoman wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. Maker and the Dread Masters both had more or less elected to avoid her and Mythal entirely, the couple and their children pretty much the only one of Vandrad’s family that had not been outright attacked at any point during the feud. But she knew that Maker was the one that was responsible for the destruction of Vandrad’s childhood home, who had very nearly killed the entire du Wolff clan in one fell swoop.

She had to admit, the interaction she was watching now didn’t seem much like that of a killer. Or at least, an indiscriminate one. His re-telling of the destruction of his people was certainly not well received by Blade, who was simmering with so much indignation that one didn’t need to be an empath to sense it. His ship was certainly remarkable, once they saw it on the screen, but even for someone that lacked any kind of scientific background even Serilda was most captivated by Knowhere.

When the video came to an end, Blade immediately insisted that his brother had been lying. With prompting from Vandrad, he conveyed that all of it had to be lies, ill conceived attempts to play the victim and martyr – everything that went against Blade’s own experience with the same events. His biggest telling factor is that Maker had called him Minotia, which was not Blade’s Terran name. It was certainly odd, but when Blade attempted to get Genesis to back him up, all eyes flicked to the homunculus to find him deep in thought. He admitted that he had never heard the name Minotia before, which was concerning to Genesis. He’d connected to Knowhere a number of times during his tenure with Maker, but he’d never seen the ship where Mercury had been taken before, leading him to assume that the true location of Knowhere had been hidden from him.

Blade was all too eager to use that as evidence to support Maker’s deceit, but Genesis gently cut him off, explaining that he didn’t believe it was so cut and dry. Vandrad once more asked for clarification, and the homunculus continued, explaining his own exposure to Knowhere. While he’d had access to it, Maker had shielded certain things from him regarding the planet, but Genesis had found a way to circumvent some of it with a more broadly worded request to learn about the planet's greatest achievements. One of the files he’d been given access to was that of the All-Knowing, which had been marked with the seal of Teras Prime’s main governing body.

At first he had assumed that Maker had altered the information to keep Genesis off his scent, but even Genesis admitted it would be the first such time that Maker would have done something like that. His creator wasn’t perfect, but he had almost never lied to Genesis, and the version of the Terran that had interacted with Mercury was the one that Genesis was raised by. Blade turned to face Genesis in frustration, and the casino owner assured him that he wasn’t declaring Maker to be telling the whole truth… but the information that Genesis had to contribute was, nonetheless, fact, and as such needed to be taken into consideration. More importantly, he was beginning to suspect that the use of Knowhere was taking a toll on Maker’s mind.

He turned things back around on Blade, asking him if he was sure – really sure – that the events that transpired on Teras Prime happened the way that Blade remembered them happening. The several long seconds of silence were all the answer they needed to know that Blade couldn’t say with absolute certainty that his version of events was correct. A weight settled on the room as he finally admitted that he didn’t know, causing several people at the table to look at one another, uncertain of where to go next.

“Unfortunately, it only gets more complicated,” Mercury admitted. “A lot of what he told me was simply testimony, which isn’t anything I can really prove or disprove one way or another. However, there was one thing I could – and did – look into.” With another wave of her hand, she conjured a handheld sized tablet for everyone, the devices appearing before each of them for them to browse through at their leisure. “Hosrius was the one who first mentioned Maker to me a while back, telling me the story of his hunt. I had done some light research after that, more out of curiosity than anything else since Hosrius was certain at the time that Maker likely wasn’t dead. But it was mostly just surface research, more collecting copies of his various bounties and warrants, and articles on his misdeeds just to see what kind of stuff he’d become famous for..”

“It wasn’t until Scourge revealed that The Engineer was Maker that I realized I needed to do a little more research… but unfortunately, I still didn’t go deep enough. I looked up better details on what he had done… but not really on who he was doing it to, nor on those who had issued his warrants. And once I started looking into those people… it does, unfortunately, support his version of events. In every single circumstance a large number of innocent lives were almost always caught up in the crossfire, which he admitted as much, but there is more than enough evidence to prove that his attempts were to target malicious organizations and suspect members of government and other such people. And all the people that have ordered bounties for him afterward all have filthy records, as well.”

Mercury gave everyone a moment to scroll through her findings. It was Serilda that broke the silence first, gently setting her tablet down to turn toward the Silver Wolf Ace. “Do you believe him?”

The Xocili was quiet for a long time, unable to meet anyone’s eyes as she considered her thoughts and words carefully. “I can’t say my ability to detect a lie is foolproof. To put it in Earthland terms, my body essentially can function like a polygraph test, except it’s far more accurate and can work beyond simple ‘yes or no’ statements. By reading the fluctuations in a person’s vital signs, I can get an extremely precise reading on whether or not their being truthful with me, as well as whether or not their true emotions match what they are outwardly expressing, allowing me to make a highly educated guess that is almost never wrong. I can’t say how well Maker’s version of events holds up against what actually happened, but…” Her voice trailed off for a moment before she looked up at everyone. “I do believe that he believes it. Unfortunately, without being able to access the history of the All-Knowing from Knowhere, there simply isn’t a way to prove it.”

“Well… that’s not necessarily true.” Serilda released a soft sigh through her nostrils as the eyes around the table returned to her. “If we could get our hands on a little of Maker’s blood, I could attempt to read his memories. It’s not my favorite ability in the world, but I can’t deny that it’s been extremely useful for investigations in the past. Or, if Blade was willing, I could do the same with his blood. I wouldn’t be able to show everyone else here what I see, but perhaps an objective set of eyes might reveal something. Given the depth of personal trauma with these experiences, I certainly don’t think it’s unreasonable for you to say no if you’re uncomfortable with it,” Serilda explained kindly to Blade, assuring him that she was not expecting him to agree, nor would she peg him with any suspicions should he decline. “I merely wish to put all our options on the table.”

Presuming Blade would need a moment to consider that, Serilda turned her attention to Scourge and Patty. “You two have spent a great deal of time with him. Is there anything you can recall him doing in the past that might either conflict or support Maker’s claims? Anything that, in hindsight, may not have been what it originally appeared to be at the time, or moments when he seemed to do something that wasn’t characteristic of him?”

WORDS: 1524 | @Vandrad Ragnos @Mythal Ragnos @Mercury Arseneault

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by **Vandrad Ragnos** 29th May 2023, 12:30 pm

Vandrad du Wolff-Ragnos | Energy Monarch | Ark of the Dread Masters | Traveller of the Multiverse | Bank
Golden Lacrima - Good until 7/16/2023

Vandrad Ragnos: - - -
Lineage : Traveller of the Multiverse
Position : None
Posts : 792
Guild : Fairy Tail
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 8,080,767

Character Sheet
First Skill: Energy Monarch
Second Skill: Ark of the Dread Masters
Third Skill:

Post n°4

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Vandrad Ragnos 29th May 2023, 12:30 pm

There’s no fair or unfair in battle.

( There is only victory or in your case, defeat. )

Things didn’t look good. Blade looked utterly devastated by his own admission, his eyes wandering the table and the floor in front of him as he searched, hopelessly, for some kind of answer to truly solidify his point of view. The problem was, he’d dedicated so much hatred and aggression towards Maker for years, having built up the memory of his loss for so long. Even as he played it back in his head now, it was through the rose-tinted glasses of a man hellbent on vengeance and smiting his enemy for the sake of justice. But hearing Mercury and Genesis speak so… highly of Maker. Perhaps that wasn’t the right word but they cast him in shades of gray rather than damning him as an outright villain. Had he and Halcyon really ever viewed him as an enemy? Or had that been something he’d created to justify Maker’s actions? Perhaps his youngest brother truly had been used by his people to advance their culture, a scientific and engineering work horse that was only meant to further their own agenda.

And if that was the case, why wouldn’t Maker react the same way? That was how he’d seen the world through the scope of his own people. Blade didn’t know where to begin his thoughts or what to consider. Everything he’d built his life around for decades was crashing down around him. His continuous nightmare, the one that had haunted him since their journey to Omothol, seemed realistic but what if it was one of his own making, his own fears? Genesis looked genuinely bothered that he’d shaken the foundation of Blade’s belief while the rest of the room awkwardly tried to figure how they were supposed to proceed. Mercury finally broke the silence, stating that things were even more complicated than they first thought. A lot of what Maker had said to Mercury were admissions from himself, lacking any real solid evidence to prove or disprove what he was saying. But he had let slip something that she could investigate further and she summoned several tablets for everyone at the table.

As the group scrolled through, she explained that Hosrius had been the one to bring Maker to her attention, when he spoke of his own hunting of Maker. She’d only done some light research, enough to educate herself, as the bounty hunter had stated quite confidently that he didn’t believe the Terran was dead. She’d gathered notices and bounty postings about Maker, if only to understand just how infamous he truly was. But once Scourge had revealed that Maker was working for the Dread Masters under the guise of the Engineer, Mercury had made the Terran much more of a priority. Unfortunately, in her research, she hadn’t gone deep enough to truly fact check every single bit of data around him. She’d wanted to see what he had done and had looked into that and left it there, opting not to investigate those that had actually put out hits, contracts and bounties on the Terran. But once she had, she found a lot of what he had said was true. There were lives lost on the innocent side of things but he’d been targeted by vengeful organizations and people that had a lot of suspicious or outright damning information about themselves. Just like Maker had said.

Serilda spoke up next, asking if Mercury believed him. She was hesitant to answer right away, unwilling to look up and meet anyone’s eyes in particular before she clarified that her ability to detect lies was not without fault. It read a person’s vital signs and by reading that, she could make an educated, highly accurate guess as to if a person was attempting to be false with her. But she did believe that, if anything, Maker believed what he said. Whether that was the whole truth or his own attempts to convince himself of what was real, she couldn’t tell. And without having access to Knowhere and being able to look up the All-Knowing, they couldn’t clarify the events beyond that.

But Serilda was quick to intervene, stating that they may have another method. If they could gather some of Maker’s blood, she could attempt to use her magic to read his memories. It was not particularly a favorite ability of hers but it would provide a clear answer to their investigation. In fact, she offered the option to Blade as well, allowing them a glimpse of what their last encounter had been through the eyes of someone objective. But she also understood that with the amount of trauma from his past, Blade might be apprehensive to agree to the use of his blood in such a way. He still couldn’t quite lift his gaze but he was listening, nodding softly at her gentle offer.

While he took time to consider that option, Serilda turned to Scourge and Patricia and, considering their time spent with him, wondered if there was anything that they could remember to add further insight. “Well, Maker and I never got along. He presented himself like he was the smartest in the room and no one else was worthy of his time,” Scourge said with a slightly dismissive shrug before his head cocked slightly. “Though… it could have been more… ambivalence? Like he wasn’t really wanting to connect with us, the Dread Masters specifically.”

“He spoke to me in very rare circumstances. Usually I received instructions remotely. But like Scourge, I felt that he wasn’t really interested in what we, as people, were doing or, frankly, were about. I always felt that he viewed as instruments to be used for his own purposes and then forgotten about until he had use of us again. But we mustn't forget that he not only allowed unlawful testing on humanity that resulted in deaths but actively encouraged it. Whatever his views on freedom or unfortunate causality are, he robbed men and women of their lives for the purpose of advancing his own research.”

"That won’t be forgotten,” Vandrad replied, his tone cold and firm. "Nor will the attempts on me and my family. The du Wolff manor was lost because of his actions. He will pay the price for what he has done.” Despite all of the muddling information that had been passed around, it was clear where Vandrad stood.

That seemed to stoke a flame inside Blade’s heart as he stood up. “Then let us get a clear view of what happened,” he stated just as firmly. He gestured with one of his hands like he was crossing something off and a flash of light sparked right over his other hand, opening a wound. His hand gestured once more and pulled a glob of his blood out, the perfect orb of crimson floating in the air while his wound healed itself. “View what happened between my brother and I on Teras Prime, Lady Sinclair. Perhaps you can see and understand something that has been lost to me. Or perhaps something I refused to see.”

He would gesture towards her gently, the orb floating towards her. Whatever she chose to do with it beyond that, he simply sat back down and waited. But they would all be waiting, as before Serilda could consume the blood to activate her abilities, something would stop her. It wasn’t some interference from anyone or even some kind of protection on the blood. No, it would be something inside of her, telling her not to consume it, warning her not to let even one speck of blood touch her mouth. She would feel repelled, repulsed, even… afraid.

Words: 1272/2996 | Tag: @Mercury Arseneault | marzia at shine & gs.

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by **Mercury Arseneault** 29th May 2023, 5:09 pm

Mercury Arseneault: - - -
Lineage : Gold Rush
Position : None
Posts : 690
Cosmic Coins : 0
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 7,126,000

Character Sheet
First Skill: Gunblade Master
Second Skill: Mecha Primordial Slayer
Third Skill:

Post n°5

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mercury Arseneault 29th May 2023, 5:09 pm

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects
and discovering other peoples' weaknesses.

“I can’t believe I forgot about that,” Mercury admitted when Serilda posed for the option of using her blood magic to help get a glimpse at either Maker or Blade’s memories. It wasn’t often that Mercury forgot things, but it had been so long since the incident with Sabine and there was so much on her mind that it had just slipped away. “Getting my hands on Maker’s blood might be difficult. I don’t think I’d be able to fabricate an opportunity. I’d have to let it happen naturally, or else he might suspect something since he does know about that ability. I’d also have to be there myself. Or at least, I can’t send it through my clone. I’d have to collect it in person.”

Serilda turned things toward Scourge and Patty, wondering what insights they had to offer. Scourge admitted that he and Maker had disliked one another from the start, the former Dread Master finding that his coworker had always held himself above everyone else. He seemed content to leave it at that, but a brief moment of thought brought an addendum: that it was possible Maker was always just keeping himself distant and unattached to the Dread Masters and everyone that was a part of it. Likewise, Patricia said that she usually received her instructions remotely, rarely keeping himself in the same room as her, though she did also feel that he was generally disinterested in what she did otherwise. She believed him to view people as pawns, and insisted that no matter what, he had still hurt innocent people through unlawful and unethical testing.

Vandrad was quick to agree, assuring Patty that Maker’s crimes wouldn’t be forgotten and the intended on demanding payment for the attempt on his and his family’s lives, as well as the loss of their Bellum home. A silent nod from Serilda indicated her agreement, or at least her understanding. She wasn’t as quick to jump to capital punishment, but she was not acting as a Rune Knight here and the vast majority of these crimes were not committed in Fiore. Even if they were, she could hardly put Maker on trial with the Magic Council or anyone else that either wasn’t aware of all these secret organizations, or were potentially a part of them. As far as she was concerned, this was a national matter for New Rhaegar, and as the future monarchs Vandrad and Mercury would have to make the call.

Mercury seemed less sure than her fiance, and while she was normally very good at masking herself, the Xocili didn’t seem to be putting much effort into keeping her troubled mind from her expression. Was she still upset with Maker’s attempts to kill Vandrad and rob him of his magic? Of trying to kill the entirety of her in-laws, and all the other things he’d done over the last couple years? Yes, absolutely. She greatly wanted him to face justice and wanted nothing more out of this meeting for Blade, Genesis, and everyone else to reassure her that Maker had been lying through his teeth in an attempt to manipulate her.

But that wasn’t what was happening. There was a very real, very likely possibility that he was telling the truth, and she had a growing feeling within her that she simply didn’t have the right to pass judgment on him. On anyone, really. How could she, when she had far surpassed Maker’s crime count? She wasn’t fit to be the judge on anyone’s life… much less the queen of an entire nation of people.

She was on the cusp of a mini emotional spiral when Blade’s voice pulled her from her thoughts, not totally erasing her conflicting emotions but shoving them down far enough that she wasn’t actively thinking about them. He insisted on allowing Serilda to use his blood to view his memory of his confrontation with his brother, standing to his feet and cutting a wound on his hand before Serilda had the chance to explain that she could take some without causing him injury. Mercury watched as the Voidwalker stood and came around to meet Blade, accepting the droplets of red ichor with her magic as he encouraged her to see if there was anything he had missed or refused to see at the time.

“Very well.” With a deep breath that once more betrayed her lingering dislike of this part of her magic, she drew the blood to her lips… only for it to stop short as she hesitated. A look crossed her face that was hard for Mercury to pinpoint, the Xocili’s brows furrowing together. It was almost like disgust, which wasn’t necessarily unsurprising, though it wasn’t like Serilda to let something like that stop her. But there was something else, something Mercury could only describe as fear. She’d only seen Serilda afraid once before, back when Faera had attempted to take over Mythal’s body.

“My lady…?” It was Dinah who spoke up first, a similar look of concern on the guardswoman’s face as she watched Serilda falter.

It seemed to shake the princess from her reverie. “My apologies.” With a renewed look of determination, she once more moved to consume the blood only for her to nearly jump out of her skin. “Victoria?” she asked out loud, so bewildered by the internal interruption that she responded verbally rather than just in her own mind. In almost the same breath, the Seal herself appeared, her body practically stepping out from Serilda’s own and into view.

“Don’t do it,” the Conquoress instructed her, narrowing her hardened gaze at the floating plasma as she approached to inspect it and looking far more serious and on edge than anyone who had exposure to her in the past could recall seeing her before.

Serilda blinked at her. “Why not?”

“Let me look at it.” Using their conjoined control over the Void, Victoria pulled it up to her face. A thin crimson film cloaked her body as she manipulated some of her own magic in an attempt to analyze the blood. Serilda, looked around the room with a confused expression but otherwise remained silent until Victoria elected to speak again. “I’m sorry, everyone, but I cannot let Serilda do this. Something’s wrong… I don’t know what, but my intuition – and Serilda’s – is telling me that something dangerous will happen if she attempts to read Blade’s memories. I can’t sense any protections or curses or anything in his blood, nor any kind of outward interference, but…” Her voice trailed off.

Finally she shook her head. “We cannot do this, not even me. Though I have no concrete reason at this time, I must insist that the present course of action is unwise.”

WORDS: 1126/1976 | @Mythal Ragnos @Vandrad Ragnos @Serilda Sinclair

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mercy | Gunblade Master | Adamantian
Character | Vault & Tracker
Golden Lacrima until 2/5/2025

Theme Song:

by **Mythal Ragnos** 31st May 2023, 1:37 pm

Mythal Ragnos

Mythal Ragnos: - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lineage : Heir to Darkness
Position : God of Sedulity
Faction : The Rune Knights
Posts : 1062
Guild : Guildless
Cosmic Coins : 50
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Age : 36
Mentor : Nessa Cordelia Lux (Former)
Experience : 11,070,431

Character Sheet
First Skill: Kami No Ken Sutairu O Taosu
Second Skill: Kingdom Darkness Embodiment
Third Skill: Soul Stone/Trickster's Illusions

Post n°6

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mythal Ragnos 31st May 2023, 1:37 pm

1424 words || @Serilda Sinclair, @Mercury Arseneault, @Vandrad Ragnos || job info/job sign-up || short note here

The mood of the room was… pensive? Perhaps more unsure of how to take the news of Serilda’s particular ability. Her Blood magic hadn’t been broadcast to the greater portion of the room so there were a few of them that shared a look of skepticism over it. Mercury on the other hand had forgotten about it, though getting her hands on Maker’s blood would be a difficult task without explanation. She’d have to let it happen through some natural means, whatever that meant, as Maker was already very well aware of Serilda’s ability to read blood. Either way, she’d have to be the one to get it, as she couldn’t transfer that through her clone.

Scourge and Patty spoke of Maker based on their own experiences which was… equally as pensive in terms of his actions and words. The former Dread Master was slightly more damning but quickly corrected his stance as he thought more on the subject, making a second pass over his comments with new eyes. Patty was equally as thoughtful, though she did make sure to remind everyone that he had brought several men and women to their end for his own means. Vandrad had been quick to pounce upon the remark, solidifying his stance on what Maker’s actions had wrought and how he would pay for what he had done. Serilda nodded silently at the comment but it seemed the Xocili wasn’t… as sure about it. She looked troubled; concerned that her beliefs about what made Maker tick hadn’t been as clear and fluid as she, and everyone, first believed. There was evidence that he had been telling the truth and that had sowed doubt through several of them, most of all Mercury and Blade.

Luckily, the other Terran had been inspired by Vandrad’s words and with a few swift motions, had summoned a perfect ball of his blood. He then offered it to Serilda, asking that she view his memories and provide a neutral, uncluttered view upon their confrontation. There was the slightest hint of pleading in his voice as he made his request, wanting nothing more than for the Rune Knight Field Marshall to dismiss his doubts and reassure him of his quest. She understood and raised the blood to her lips… only to pause. A look crossed her face, one that Mythal had only seen in very rare circumstances and not in years. He watched his fiance’s face as she wrestled with her own emotional capacity before Dinah spoke up. Her words seemed to shake the Voidwalker’s reverie, enough so that she was able to apologize for her hesitance and begin to bring the blood back to her mouth when, suddenly, she spoke Victoria’s name in surprise.

In that same instance, the Seal of Conquest manifested herself, demanding that Serilda hold off from consuming the blood. Her eyes were fixated on the globe with harsh scrutiny before she moved closer to it. Serilda inquired to the pause and Victoria simply said she wished to examine the blood, bringing it up to her face as her own magic activated. She studied it while the room looked at each other in confusion but no more than Blade himself, looking downright bewildered. When Victoria spoke, she apologized and insisted that Serilda could not use her magic to analyze the blood. There was something wrong with it and she couldn’t tell what it was but every instinct in her and Serilda screamed out in defiance, warning her against willfully consuming it. Though Victoria couldn’t sense any protections or curses on it, they could not proceed on the current path. They lacked reason or explanation but it would be dangerous to continue.

“What the hell?” Mythal finally spoke up, turning to look at Blade. “Is all that mumbojumbo you have from other worlds messing with your blood?”

“No, it shouldn’t…” Blade answered, his abject terror and confusion melting into something more thoughtful. He glanced up at Victoria. “You said that you couldn’t tell what’s wrong, right? That you don’t have any reason to be concerned but you know there is one?” Counting that Victoria gave her some kind of confirmation, Blade shook his head softly. “Omothol,” he admitted softly. “I think I… poisoned myself. Or allowed myself to be poisoned.”

“Poison?”

“What the hell are ya talkin’ about?” Grubar and Hosrius spoke up at the same time.

“Poisoned how?” Scourge asked, his brow knitting together in concern.

Blade was quiet for a long moment, his gaze staring hard at the ground between his legs. After a long few moments, he inhaled through his nostrils and raised his head. “In our waning moments within Omothol, we faced a creature unlike any imagination could create. It seemed to encapsulate the entirety of that realm’s sky and there seemed to be nothing that was capable of stopping it. But Cillian hadn’t finished his ritual. So… I enacted an ancient thaumaturgy ability, a forbidden one. I turned my life force, my will power, into energy to try and buy him more time.”

“That explains it.” A new voice from just behind Mythal and there, hovering above and behind him, was Lux. He was lounging in the air, fully leaning back and lying in his own arms, as if he’d been relaxing while listening to everyone. With a shimmer of thousands of lights, he fully materialized in full color, landing on the ground. “Your soul looks broken, my man,” the Lightbringer remarked as he walked over to Blade and looked him over.

“Who… is this?” Blade asked, looking about the room in confusion.

“Lux, Victoria’s sister and a major pain in the ass. And what do you mean his soul is broken, Lux?”

Lux turned to Mythal. “You can’t see it? Mythal, we didn’t go and get that Soul Stone just for you to not use it beyond listening to Quentin mumble all day. Hi Quentin, by the way. Have you even heard anything he has to say? He’s been jabbering behind you.”

“Uh…” was all Mythal could say, his own brow knit in confusion. “No? I was kinda payin’ attention to all of this.”

Lux rolled his eyes and groaned. “Alright, give me a second. While I’m working, can you just… look at his soul for God’s sake? You’ll see what I mean.” With that, Lux snapped and disappeared.

Mythal, also, rolled his eyes but went along with Lux’s suggestion. As he connected to the Soul stone, his perception of the world around them changed and he could see each person’s spiritual energy in the form of glowing color around them. And just like Lux had stated, Blade’s looked… damaged. A large portion of the soul was blackened and decrepit, lacking color and real form. And Mythal could see that the rest of his spirit energy was being consumed, albeit very slowly. “Holy shit…” Mythal said softly.

“I can’t imagine the next words from his mouth are going to be ‘everything’s fine’,” Scourge tossed out.

“Blade, your soul is… I think it’s dyin’…” Mythal said, earnestly in shock at the sight.

The Terran nodded. “I was afraid of that. I had sacrificed ten years of my life to make sure we got out of Omothol. I didn’t feel sick or anything but I have been… wracked with nightmares. And they have not ceased, even after this much time away. The forbidden ability is said to come with lots of risks but I doubt its creators could even comprehend Omothol when it came to what it could do. I am sure, by opening up my life force in such a way, I also made myself open to whatever virulence made up the atmosphere there.” He sighed softly.

“I-If you’re dying, then we have to find a way to heal you,” Genesis spoke up. “Someone that can keep it from killing you further. There has to be something.”

“No one had even heard of Omothol until we encountered the Lich King. I doubt anyone would possess the means or knowledge to try and alter my destiny now. And it doesn’t matter; the only thing that does is solving the matter that is Maker. Whether his actions have been for the greater good or not, he must be stopped. He has brought something from Omothol into our world as well; something he weaponized. At the very least, that must be destroyed and he must be stopped, one way or the other.”

“And once that has been handled, I can go home. And join the rest of my people.”

STATISTICS
HP: x/y
MP: x/y
Spells Used: list them here
Abilities Active: list them and their effects here
Weapons Equipped: list/link them here
Monsters Killed: list here
Other Notes: reeeeeee this should scroll if you type too much

IVYLEAF33

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Nocturn's Embrace
Kingdom Darkness Embodiment | The Soul Stone | Character | Armory | Heir to Darkness
Golden Lacrima - Good untiJuly 16th, 2023
How 'bout you just butt out of my business

by **Serilda Sinclair** 31st May 2023, 8:13 pm

Serilda Sinclair

Serilda Sinclair: Ice Queen; - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lineage : Scion of the Void King
Position : Goddess of Conviction
Faction : The Rune Knights
Posts : 1453
Guild : Guildless
Cosmic Coins : 155
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 12,421,054

Character Sheet
First Skill: Voidwalking
Second Skill: Sword of Wrath
Third Skill: Cruorthurgy

Post n°7

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Serilda Sinclair 31st May 2023, 8:13 pm

Conviction never shames nor condemns us.
It calls us back to who we truly are.

Just as quickly as they had a solution it was taken from them in the form of Victoria appearing and putting an immediate stop to a situation that no one else quite understood the danger of. Mythal turned to Blade to ask if the Terran was aware of anything that could have defiled his blood, and at first he denied it. However, there was a pause only a moment later before he turned to the Seal, confirming that she was certain there was an issue, even if she didn’t know what it was. “Yes. My affinity for blood is absolute, and before now I didn’t believe there was any type of blood that I could not control and manipulate. Whatever this is, it has surpassed even my depths of power.” But the confused and almost frustrated look on her face would soon wash away and be replaced with unrestrained shock and disbelief as Blade mentioned a single word: Omothol.

Serilda frowned even as Victoria’s eyes went wide, the Seal unable to speak. Several people did so in her stead, demanding more information from Blade about his poisoning. There was a long silence as Blade stared hard at the ground. Mercury, too, was suddenly looking even more on edge than before as she looked toward Blade with a confused and worried expression. The Terran finally explained that something had attacked them in Omothol, something none of them could even explain properly. Their deaths were assured but they needed more time as Cillian had not finished his ritual yet. So Blade used a forbidden ability that gave them temporary protection in exchange for a portion of his life force.

The Voidwalker was looking more confused than ever, getting the feeling that she was one of the few people that didn’t have enough context for this conversation. But before she could ask for clarification, Lux elected to show himself. According to him, Blade’s explanation was evidence enough as to why the Terran’s soul was broken. Mythal gave a quick response to Blade questioning who Lux was before asking Lux to clarify what he’d said. The Lightbringer chastised Mythal for not using the Soul Stone, insisting that Quentin had been trying to get the Rune Knight’s attention. Then he instructed Mythal to look at Blade’s soul before saying he’d be right back and disappearing again.

Mythal didn’t seem too impressed by the Seal’s behavior, but the moment he did as Lux suggested his tune changed. He said that Blade’s soul looked like it was dying. “What…?” Serilda asked, bewildered.

Blade didn’t seem surprised, and simply gave an understanding nod as he explained that the ritual had eaten up ten years of his life. He didn’t feel sick in a conventional way, but he had been experiencing nightmares ever since. He knew the risk he had taken as much as anyone could know such things, but there simply couldn’t have been any accurate calculation when dealing with a realm as incomprehensible as Omothol. Most likely, he absorbed some of the toxic essence of the realm and it was eating away at him.

Genesis insisted they attempt to find a way to heal him or at least stop the process of decay, certain they could find something. But Blade reminded him that Omothol was all but forgotten to the universe at large, and they only heard of it by chance because of the Lich King. The chances of anyone being able to help was almost guaranteed to be nothing. The only thing he could do now was press and on make sure that the issue of Maker was addressed while he still had time to address it, stating that Maker had created a weapon out of what he’d brought back from Omothol and it needed to be destroyed. After that, Blade could die in peace.

Mercury had all but shut down. She was keeping her composure, but the Xocili was leaning forward on the desk with her face buried in her hands, clearly trying to come to grips with this sudden and horrific news, which only seemed to be further compiling on top of everything else that had been bothering her at that point.

“Forgive me, but I think I need a little more explanation. What is Omothol? Why were you there?”

“It’s a dimension of nightmares and corruption, the place where gods go when they die,” Victoria explained, the Seal still stunned. “It is actually one layer of many, one of the innermost realms closest to the prison where Ataxia is sealed.”

The Xocili’s head flew up out of her hands. “What did you just say?”

“Ataxia’s prison is at the bottom of that dimension, and Omothol is one of the realms that surrounds it. I’m not certain if the realms were put there to act as a barrier, or if they are merely the result of Ataxia’s power seeping through over the eons. I assume you went there with him?” Mercury nodded, causing Victoria to shake her head. “It’s unthinkable that you two and this Cillian fellow are still alive. You should have died the moment you set foot in that realm.”

“What… what does Ataxia look like? What color are her eyes..?” There was a trembling in Mercury’s voice as she asked the question, almost too afraid to even do so.

Victoria frowned at Mercury in confusion for a moment before realization dawned on her face. “Did you actually see her..?”

“I don’t… fully remember. We forgot almost everything after we returned, but we’ve both been having a ton of nightmares. I haven’t talked to Cillian since, but I imagine he has as well. I remember… hearing a woman’s voice whispering to me… and seeing a figure… I don’t remember what they looked like. But my nightmares have been almost entirely about seeing a pair of eyes watching me, and even when I’m awake I sometimes feel like I see them flickering in my peripheral vision; red ones, with black sclera…?”

The look of horror and pity on Victoria’s face was all it took to confirm Mercury’s fear, the color draining from the Xocili in an instant. “I am sorry, Mercury… I wish we had known about this plan beforehand. Perhaps I could have cautioned you against it. She was probably drawn to you because of your exposure to her Avatar. I don’t imagine she can have any direct control or influence over you from her prison… but I doubt those nightmares will be going away any time soon.” For once, there was a kindness to Victoria’s tone, not that the Seal was usually [u]un[/i]kind, but she didn’t typically carry much empathy or concern for the plights of most mortals. This, however, seemed to have truly struck her.

There was a moment of tense silence before Serilda elected to break it. Turning things back over to Blade, whom she was still standing next to, she placed a comforting hand on his shoulder. “We should still at least try to see if there is anything we can do to help you, no matter how slim the chances. I say this as a military leader: it is important to carry on your mission no matter the obstacles, but not to the point where you overlook your own life. You can’t help anyone if you are dead. When we are finished here, I recommend that you go see Agatha at Lusty Titans. She is the most powerful healer I know, and since she is married to a powerful demon she may have access to knowledge and power that no one else does. If there is anyone capable of finding a way to cure, or at least treat the decay, it will be her.”

WORDS: 1287/2811 | @Vandrad Ragnos @Mythal Ragnos @Mercury Arseneault

_____________________________________________________________________________________

by **Mythal Ragnos** 1st June 2023, 8:36 am

Mythal Ragnos

Mythal Ragnos: - - - - - - - - - - - -
Lineage : Heir to Darkness
Position : God of Sedulity
Faction : The Rune Knights
Posts : 1062
Guild : Guildless
Cosmic Coins : 50
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Age : 36
Mentor : Nessa Cordelia Lux (Former)
Experience : 11,070,431

Character Sheet
First Skill: Kami No Ken Sutairu O Taosu
Second Skill: Kingdom Darkness Embodiment
Third Skill: Soul Stone/Trickster's Illusions

Post n°8

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mythal Ragnos 1st June 2023, 8:36 am

2101/3525 words || @Serilda Sinclair, @Mercury Arseneault, @Vandrad Ragnos || job info/job sign-up || short note here

It wasn’t, necessarily, an easy acceptance to truly let sink in. Death was always the ominous shadow lurking just beyond sight, patiently waiting for every living being to slip into its cold, unbiased arms. But Blade had made peace with his demise long ago. He understood that he was on a path of vengeance and, however noble it was, revenge never truly brought peace or satisfaction. Many wizened men and women had told him it countless times during his travels, hoping to dissuade him from continuing further down his path. There was the option to stop -- to settle down and attempt to keep his family’s, his people’s, lineage active in the universe. Even Maker seemed to hope he would do that. But Blade couldn’t comprehend living beyond the point of his brother’s demise. He’d be the lone survivor of his race, the last vanguard to a people that had no hope of returning. And he would never be satisfied with that. He knew, once his mission was over, he would return to his home and join the rest of his people in the annals of history, having brought justice to the one that had brought them to extinction.

That matter was… more complicated now but his peace hadn’t been shaken. He’d made the active choice to go to Omothol, knowing how dangerous it was. And he had chosen to use the forbidden ability rather than find an alternative. As he saw it, his dying was the result of his own choices and actions, no one else’s. Of course, that didn’t mean he hadn’t assumed that guilt may have been felt, particularly from Mercury and he chanced a glance at her, seeing her face buried in her hands as the weight of everything pushed down on her. Vandrad had reached over and placed his hand on her back and was rubbing it gently, a rare moment of public tenderness from the future king for his fiance. Blade and Vandrad had interacted at bare minimum, at best. But he’d always felt that the pairing was… odd, given their demeanors. Seeing how they were now, he saw the very real, true love that they shared and how caring the former prince actually could be. It seemed a bit ridiculous, to read so much out of such a small action, but Blade had a far deeper understanding of the smallest of feats having the largest feelings and emotions behind them.

It was a love he’d never known and would never know but he could appreciate it from afar.

Serilda spoke up, wanting to know more about what Omothol was. It hadn’t truly occurred to Blade that they hadn’t informed the vast majority of where they had gone and what they had done. Mercury had told Vandrad but that seemed to the extent of the information trail. Luckily -- or perhaps un in this case -- it seemed Victoria knew of the realm, her look of shock and almost horror written on her face during the entirety of his explanation. She let the rest of the group know just what it was they had ventured into before revealing that it was one of the closer realms to someone named Ataxia. There was a look of confusion on several faces; Blade, Grubar, Hosrius, Genesis and Dinah for the most part. The rest of them looked downright stunned to silence, even as Mercury’s head snapped up and asked for further clarification. Victoria obliged, explaining that Ataxia had been imprisoned at the very bottom of the dimensions, with layered realms expanding above it, though no one knew if they had been created as a part of Ataxia’s influence or intentionally as additional barriers against escape. It astounded Victoria that any of them had survived being in the realm for any length of time.

Mercury asked what Ataxia may have looked like, specifically her eyes. The fear in her voice was ripe and Victoria looked confused before she realized what was truly being asked. It seemed, while they were in Omothol, Mercury had encountered… something. Though she couldn’t remember much, her nightmares provided clues to her experiences there. And she could remember a woman’s voice and a pair of eyes. She still felt them, sometimes, when she awoke, just out of sight. All it took was a look at Victoria’s face to confirm that that sounded exactly like Ataxia. Had she been informed of the plan, she would have suggested they refuse. Given Mercury’s exposure to Thana, she was most likely drawn to the Xocili and while she couldn’t actively influence her, no doubt the eyes in her nightmares would remain for some time.

That was… troubling. Terrifying for most and upsetting for those that truly didn’t understand the weight of what was being said. But no one was imprisoned in a layer of nightmare realms if they were a respected individual that wasn’t worth fearing. Everyone wrestled with that revelation for a few moments before Serilda spoke up, placing her hand on Blade’s shoulder. As she saw it, they should still make an attempt to try and help him. She spoke from the point of a military leader, understanding the desire to complete the mission but not at the risk of one’s life. He wouldn’t be helping anyone if he perished so once they had finished, it was in his best interest to go and see Agatha at Lusty Titans. She was the most powerful healer many of them knew and her husband happened to be a demon who would also have access to knowledge that may assist them in finding a cure.

“That is an admirable stance to take, Lady Sinclair, one that I actively encourage. But I’m afraid the situation is far worse than even Lux or Mythal understand.” A new voice spoke from just behind Mythal. And then, materializing out of more glittering light, was a man whose voice would be familiar to Serilda, Mercury and Victoria. A handsome bearded man stood just behind the Darkness Slayer, wearing a heavily armored outfit that all seemed to mesh as one. An extravagant indigo cloak flowed down from his shoulders and behind him, actively flowing as if there was a breeze.

Mythal turned and stared in surprise. “Quentin…? How?!” he said, looking the man up and down.

“While you’ve been barely using the Soul stone, I have been actively studying it. Not only does it allow us the ability to see spirits but we can actually give them form for a short time. Neat, right? Also, did you call me Vicky’s sister? Do I look like a sister to you?” Lux had reappeared, hovering over Mythal.

“Oh are you a man? We both know I’m bad at genders and all,” Mythal said with a shrug, too distracted to follow through on his own joke.

“Greetings everyone. I am Quentin Stridor. It’s a pleasure to meet you all,” the spirit manifested spoke to everyone, bowing his head before he moved over and approached Victoria. “Victoria… It has been some time. You still look as lovely as always.” He deftly took her hand and planted a soft kiss on the back of it.

"You were saying something about the situation being worse?” Vandrad spoke up, wanting to interrupt the spirit before he went around greeting every person individually. They hardly had the time for that.

“Ah, yes, thank you, your highness,” Quentin spoke up, bowing his head once more. “I’ve been guarding the Soul stone for quite a few centuries and have had time to study and utilize it. I have a bit more experience than Lux and Mythal so I’m able to discern a bit more about a person’s spiritual aura. And unfortunately, Sir Blade, you aren’t just dying. You are being corrupted.”

“What?” Blade asked immediately.

“I won’t pretend to know what kind of technique you used that charged your life force into energy but I can tell what the effects of Omothol are doing to you. Your soul energy is mutating into something horrific. I can’t claim to have observed any creature from Omothol but based on the few things I did learn about it, I am confident that you are being turned into a nightmare from there. It’s possible Agatha de la Cavalleria might be able to slow the process but I do not believe there is anything that could alter or cure it. I am terribly sorry to be the bearer of bad news and I wish I could offer an alternative solution but… even I am at a loss.”

Blade stared at the man for a long few beats, taking in the information with stoic understanding. It seemed even death was too good for him now. “How long?”

Quentin frowned. “Given by the length your soul has deteriorated thus far… perhaps a year before it fully overwhelms you. Then you’ll be overwhelmed by the same madness that infects those that reside in Omothol and will become contagious. There’s no telling the level of contamination you’ll cause if you’re allowed to progress to that point. If you were to use any more of your life force as energy, it would hasten the process so I strongly advise you not to do that. But time is not on your side and… at some point, you will have to be dealt with, lest this reality fall victim to the same terrible madness.”

As if all of the information and news hadn’t been heavy enough, it seemed that it could only get worse. Blade’s eyes seemed to slightly glaze over in thought. He was surprised, then, that Quentin reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder, drawing his attention upward. “But… I did not come here just with words of doom and gloom. Though I have not been able to actively participate in these meetings, I have observed and listened. And I was quite curious about this… Knowhere, that Genesis described. A complete separation of intelligence from a living person and leaving the body as a husk is quite something. I had believed that your brother may have simply separated their souls from their bodies but… based on what Mercury observed and what Maker, himself, stated, that doesn’t seem to be the case.”

“Cillian actually summoned my brother’s spirit, my other brother, Halcyon. He seemed… completely passive. Unfeeling, emotionless, cold…” Blade spoke up. They hadn’t mentioned the summoning to anyone because, frankly, it hadn’t provided them much information. It had only spawned more questions.

“Just as I thought. Maker seemed to have enacted some kind of event that quite literally took the consciousness of the body and soul and combined it into an archive. Meanwhile the soul, unable to return to the body, simply exists in the ethereal plane. Quite astounding. I would almost say impressive, were it not for the terrible position Maker has put your people in. But if their combined consciousness of the Terran people still exists in the world then through the Soul stone, we should be able to restore their souls to it. Unfortunately, given the time passed, your people’s bodies will have all but decayed beyond the point of restoration. But I can imbue the souls of your people back to their rightful neurological faculties within Knowhere. And I’ll be able to properly prepare each individual Terran for the sudden assimilation into one singular receptacle.” Quentin offered a warm smile to Blade. “Though I cannot save you or perhaps even your brother, I can promise that your people will live on in a new form. I know it doesn’t sound like much but I hope--”

Blade couldn’t believe what he was hearing. The shock and awe on his face was clear to everyone in the room as Quentin unraveled an assumption he’d reached long ago, pulling apart the strings of mournful acceptance and offering something Blade hadn’t really, truly felt in a long time. Hope. Before the Sage had even finished speaking, the Terran had risen up and pulled him into a hug, a show of wild, uninhibited emotion that he didn’t seem prone to. He hugged Quentin tight, his face turned away from everyone. “Thank you.” His words were stuttered, uneven, rife with tears that had welled up in his eyes and begun to fall. In one single promise, Quentin had restored hope in a man that had long given up on it. It would not abate his thirst for vengeance for what had been done, but it held the promise that his people would not perish completely. And maybe, just maybe…

He could finally get some real answers to what happened.

STATISTICS
HP: x/y
MP: x/y
Spells Used: list them here
Abilities Active: list them and their effects here
Weapons Equipped: list/link them here
Monsters Killed: list here
Other Notes: reeeeeee this should scroll if you type too much

IVYLEAF33

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Nocturn's Embrace
Kingdom Darkness Embodiment | The Soul Stone | Character | Armory | Heir to Darkness
Golden Lacrima - Good untiJuly 16th, 2023
How 'bout you just butt out of my business

by **Mercury Arseneault** 1st June 2023, 5:31 pm

Mercury Arseneault: - - -
Lineage : Gold Rush
Position : None
Posts : 690
Cosmic Coins : 0
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 7,126,000

Character Sheet
First Skill: Gunblade Master
Second Skill: Mecha Primordial Slayer
Third Skill:

Post n°9

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mercury Arseneault 1st June 2023, 5:31 pm

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects
and discovering other peoples' weaknesses.

Mercury was not having a very good time. She had known from the start this meeting was going to be a difficult one, but she hadn’t expected it to be this bad. The Xocili rested her face in her hands, doing her best to come to grips with the steam roll of bad news that seemed to be coming without let up, the feel of Vandrad’s hand rubbing her back being the only soothing thing to keep her grounded. Yet nearly all of that had been undone by the sudden understanding that Ataxia had been the woman she had seen in that realm, the one whom she continued to be plagued by flashes of even back in the mortal realm. The only thing that kept her from losing her composure was the fact that there was no evidence or implication that the trapped goddess could actually reach her; only that her brief time in Omothol was enough to catch Ataxia’s attention, the result of which was a psychological consequence that was likely to be with her for some time.

Truthfully, she was more concerned about Blade. Deep down Mercury knew that it wasn’t her fault, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel responsible in some form… and unfortunately, the punches were still coming. With Lux’s help, Quentin materialized in a way that everyone could see, causing many in the room to be surprised and confused. He commended Serilda for her suggestion about Agatha, but explained that the situation went deeper than Mythal and Lux knew. When questioned, Lux explained that he had been studying the Soul Stone Mythal had acquired – the one that they had used to rip apart Trinity’s soul so they could isolate and kill Thana – and he could use it to give spirits a temporary body of sorts.

Mercury was far too interested in what Quentin had to say, and didn’t really pay much attention to the quick aside that Lux had made toward his host. The mage introduced himself to those who didn’t know him, taking a brief moment to greet Victoria personally with a kiss on the back of her hand. Despite everything, Victoria was more than a little charmed, the slight tug on her lips more than enough to display her pleasure. “Quentin. I see you haven’t lost your charisma after all these centuries.”

It was as far as Victoria planned on letting it go, as she too understood that there were far more important matters at hand, but nonetheless Vandrad interjected to make sure everyone stayed on topic. Quentin thanked the future king before giving some backstory on his connection to the Soul Stone and thus how long he’d been studying it and utilizing it. From his understanding, he was better able to narrow Blade’s predicament down to more than merely dying, but rather that his soul itself was being corrupted.

Mercury frowned, not entirely sure what he meant by that though she certainly didn’t like the sound of it. Quentin explained that while he didn’t know all the particulars, nor had he ever had exposure to the creatures of Omothol, he was confident that Blade was being turned into such a creature from that realm. He believed that Agatha might be able to delay the process a bit, but there was no avoiding the very real fact that it could not be cured. In roughly a year’s time, he would be overtaken by the madness of the realm and it will become contagious, meaning it would spread throughout the mortal plane and put their entire universe at risk. If he used any more of his life energy to fuel his rituals, it would only hasten the process. The bottomline was that he would eventually need to be put down before it got that far.

The Xocili was doing her best to not draw attention to the fact that she was crying, wiping a few stray tears from her face as she quietly sniffed back some of the moisture in her nostrils. Everyone in the room was at an absolute loss for words, though some were more heavily affected by the news than others; primarily, those who knew Blade well and had spent more time with him over the years and recent months.

However, Quentin did have at least some good news. He explained that he’d been able to observe nearly all their meetings the last few months, and he had been curious about Knowhere. Blade confirmed about the separation of consciousness from soul, explaining about how his other brother Halcyon had behaved when Cillian had summoned him. With that information in mind, Quentin voiced his belief that he could utilize the Soul Stone to return their souls to them and thus reinstate their individual sentience. They would still be a part of Knowhere – which he could prepare them for so they didn’t go insane upon regaining self awareness – but they would be restored as much as possible, and allowed to live on, if in a different form than they had in life.

The mage wouldn’t even have a chance to finish his next sentence before Blade practically tackled him in a tight hug, his face turned away from the rest of the room as he thanked Quentin, though his shaking voice was evidence enough of the relief and gratitude that had overwhelmed him. Mercury herself was still reeling from all the other awful information they’d gone over thus far, but even she had managed to find a small, if sad, smile for the bittersweet moment. Genesis had always hoped that there was a way to save the Terran race, and it seemed he had been correct, though who knew if this was what the homunculus had in mind.

It had been about a week since their meeting had come to a close. Mercury had been hit hard from every direction, and as a result had needed quite a bit of time to feel at least somewhat close to her normal self again. She’d spent a lot of time near Vandrad the last few days, seeking refuge in him almost exclusively, much like she had done after she’d been rescued from the Nazru. Unfortunately, the world wasn’t about to stop turning just because she was sad, and there was still a lot of work to be done, so with a little help from her fiance – and her therapist – she found the strength to push forward, without brushing her worries or fears under the rug but doing her best not to let it control her every day life either.

There had been one thing that she’d been hoping to do at the meeting, but not had the emotional capacity to deal with after everything was said and done. However, upon learning that Patricia had elected to use the labs on the island that day rather than the ones in Era, it reminded her about the gift she had for the woman. So since Vandrad was off training with Victoria, Scourge, and Vriko, Mercury made her way through the manor to where she could find the doctor. She was dressed casually in a long denim skirt that had two high slits up either leg, and a sheer black long sleeved top that was covered in stars and left a bit of her stomach showing.

“Hey there hot stuff,” the Xocili chirped as she walked through the door. “Got a second?”

Presuming the work was something Patricia could set aside for a few minutes, Mercury would conjure up a tablet. “I’m glad you’re here today. I meant to give this to you after the meeting, but didn’t get the chance. It wasn’t really relevant too much to everything else we discussed, but I did pick up some concrete research while I was with Maker that I thought might interest you.” She offered the electronic device to the other woman. “It’s all of his notes and studies about Energy Monarch. He’d done quite a bit on it, which was probably why he wound up fusing the power into himself. I know you at least held the magic temporarily, so I figured if anyone was able to find something useful to do with all of this info it would be you.”

Giving Patricia a chance to look over it, Mercury hopped up to sit on a clear spot on the nearest table, idly looking over the doctor’s tools and workbench to see if she could figure out what she was working on.

WORDS: 1420/3396 | @Mythal Ragnos @Vandrad Ragnos @Serilda Sinclair

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mercy | Gunblade Master | Adamantian
Character | Vault & Tracker
Golden Lacrima until 2/5/2025

Theme Song:

by **Vandrad Ragnos** 1st June 2023, 7:31 pm

Vandrad du Wolff-Ragnos | Energy Monarch | Ark of the Dread Masters | Traveller of the Multiverse | Bank
Golden Lacrima - Good until 7/16/2023

Vandrad Ragnos: - - -
Lineage : Traveller of the Multiverse
Position : None
Posts : 792
Guild : Fairy Tail
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 8,080,767

Character Sheet
First Skill: Energy Monarch
Second Skill: Ark of the Dread Masters
Third Skill:

Post n°10

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Vandrad Ragnos 1st June 2023, 7:31 pm

There’s no fair or unfair in battle.

( There is only victory or in your case, defeat. )

The beauty of having one’s own lab was that she could dress however she pleased and keep the temperature at whatever she wanted.

Patricia Reeves had spent a lot of time hidden from the public. In fact, it was something she was still actively doing, in light of Maker and whatever remained of the Dread Masters. Years had been spent toiling among the laboratories of the Rune Knights in solitude, working on her own projects to keep herself sane while still keeping in communication with the rest of her friends. It was an odd thing to say, that she had friends. She’d honestly gone so long without having close acquaintances that she had experienced a bit of a mental conniption figuring out just how to react and act around them. Of course, she never showed her inexperience, stress or anxieties in front of them; she saved those for when she was by herself. But she had gotten to know most of them very well, including Mythal and Serilda. She was referred to as an aunt in their household, having taken care of their children often enough and bonded with the growing twins. She’d felt like part of the family; a relative to them without taking part in any kind of odd, threeway type marriage kind of deal. Not that she would have been opposed to it; Mythal was a very handsome man and Serilda seemed like a very caring lover, even if Patricia didn’t feel particularly attracted to women altogether.

Or so she claimed. There had always been curiosities. Moments of looking at a female and wondering what would happen between them, should romance or, at the very least, lust were to spark between them. She’d never given it much thought save for the likes of Mercury but she was a special case, after all. Not only was she a charming, beautiful woman but she was so incredibly unique. Nonetheless, her rapid thoughts were always pushed aside for more constructive ones, focusing more on projects than anything else. And luckily, she had been quite caught up in the conundrum that was the shared magic Energy Monarch. Once believed to be altogether rare, three individuals possessed it at the same time and, more remarkably, one of them had a variation of it. Saffron’s magic had truly fascinated Patricia and she had taken several recordings and readings from her training with Vandrad.

Vandrad and Scourge were related, so far that a clone could be related to one’s ancestor. Yet their use of Energy Monarch was activated and manipulated differently. Vandrad utilized it through very strict, conventional means, boosting his own strength and using ethernano in concentrated attacks. While Scourge could perform similar actions, he had more creativity in his usage. But it wasn’t just the tactical point of view; the drawing of ethernano and the release of it emanated off of them in different ways as well. It had confounded her in the most delightfully annoying sense, as all difficult magic breakthroughs did. She’d dedicated hours trying to pick apart the intricacies in the magics and her labs was filled with charts, diagrams and hundreds of papers all surrounding the phenomenon.

Luckily, she’d been able to move out of the Rune Knight lab to something larger and more grand. Not that she had any issue with the facilities of the Rune Knights; in fact, she found them quite impressive. But her work often got in the way of other projects that the Rune Knights needed completed, plus it was safer to place her somewhere more secure like New Rhaegar. That way there was no chance of any kind of leak getting out about her whereabouts. She was sad to leave all of the Rune Knight Engineers that she had worked with and also had come to call friends. But there was no denying the excitement in her at the prospect of operating out a technological marvel that was adapted from both Rhaegarian and Xocili technology. She’d almost completely forgotten about her research into Energy Monarch as she dove into working with the best of the Xocili and Rhaegarians scholars, asking them every question imaginable and dreaming up all sorts of magical and technological advancements.

Yet she hadn’t completely forgotten about it and upon learning that Maker had incorporated a version of Energy Monarch into himself, she had returned to her studies. It was finally a warm day on New Rhaegar, now that spring was finally starting to show its face. In light of the more humid day, Patricia had opted for something a bit more casual for her lab work. She was working solo so she’d grabbed a shirt she could tie together in the front and cover her arms. She’d even gone sans bra, as she usually did on Rhaegar; it seemed every woman did and it had become something of a custom. Beyond that, she had a short jean skirt on and a pair of brown boots. She was shuffling through some papers when Mercury walked in the door, looking far more positive than she had a week ago. All of the information she had revealed and what else had been unveiled had really impacted her strongly and she had retreated for a few days to, understandably, collect herself.

“Mercury, I always have time for you,” the scientist responded as she stood up from her desk and walked around it to approach the Xocili. As she did, Mercury materialized a tablet in her hand. She explained that she’d intended to give Patricia the information after the meeting but had missed the opportunity. It hadn’t involved anything they were talking about in the meeting but it was some decent research information that Maker had accomplished. As Patty took the tablet in hand, Mercury continued by explaining that she had gotten access to his research on Energy Monarch. It seemed he’d made some decent progress on his study, which is why it seemed he had opted to fuse it to himself. And since Patricia had been temporarily gifted with the use of it, she figured she was the woman that could get something out of the information. “Unfortunately I wasn’t given access to the system or algorithm he constructed to graft magics onto other people. And by now I’m sure all of that equipment is deep underground or destroyed. But if his research follows a similar path to mine, I should be able to make something out of it.”

She connected the tablet to her own display screen and transferred the information over. As it loaded onto the large scale monitor, she offered the tablet back to Mercury but held it when the Xocili reached for it. “How are you? I know that meeting was… troubling and conflicting. I just wanted to make sure you were alright.”

Words: 1135/4131 | Tag: @Mercury Arseneault | marzia at shine & gs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

by **Mercury Arseneault** 2nd June 2023, 11:03 am

Mercury Arseneault: - - -
Lineage : Gold Rush
Position : None
Posts : 690
Cosmic Coins : 0
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 7,126,000

Character Sheet
First Skill: Gunblade Master
Second Skill: Mecha Primordial Slayer
Third Skill:

Post n°11

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mercury Arseneault 2nd June 2023, 11:03 am

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects
and discovering other peoples' weaknesses.

It was always a treat to see Patty, but never more than when the woman wore something that reminded Mercury just how drop dead gorgeous the woman was. She took an extra moment to admire her, taking in the crop top and jean skirt that altogether wasn’t entirely different from what Mercury was wearing, at least in spirit. Making a mental note to flirt with her more heavily in a few minutes, she passed along her tablet and explained what she’d brought.

Patricia lamented that she’d never gotten to access Maker’s system or the information he used to graft magic, all of which she suspected had been destroyed by now. However, that didn’t mean she couldn’t find something to do with the information. She uploaded all the files onto her own display before offering the tablet back to the Xocili. However, when Mercury attempted to take it she found that Patty was still holding it hard enough to stop her. With a confused blink, Mercur looked up to see the doctor’s eyes waiting to meet her own, asking how Mercury was holding up after the meeting. She seemed to understand that it had been especially difficult on Mercury herself.

Rather than brush the concern aside and insist she was fine, Mercury gave a soft sigh after a moment. “As well as I can be, I suppose. It’s… confusing,” she admitted, gently taking the tablet and making it disappear once more. “I know Maker has done a lot of terrible things. I haven’t lost sight of that, but… hearing his side of the story, and seeing how truly he believes it… Honestly, it’s not all that different from my own story. I just don’t think I have the right to judge him anymore, you know? And unless all of this does turn out to be a really convincing lie that he’s used to pull the wool over my eyes… I’m not so sure how committed I am anymore to killing him at the end of all this.”

She rubbed her face with her hand, looking as tired as she’d felt for some time. “I feel bad deceiving him at this point. Not that I’m going to stop; I’m going to see this through. My hope is that maybe a miracle will happen and I can convince him to commit to a different life, and maybe killing him won’t be necessary, but… I know Vandrad won’t allow that. He’s made his stance clear, and I can’t blame him or Blade for that. They deserve the chance at justice. I can’t and won’t rob them of that. I just… am not as eager as I was before. It was easier when I thought he was just some psychotic asshole without a conscience. Vandrad keeps reassuring me that it’s okay that I’m not as solid on my stance anymore, but I still feel bad. I don’t want him to think that the things Maker did to him and his family aren’t important to me.”

“Though I think the hardest thing at the moment is knowing that I can’t tell him about Blade… I don’t know that I’ve quite come to grips with that, to be honest. I’ve been trying not to think about it too much because there’s nothing I can do, but it’s been difficult.”

WORDS: 552/3948 | @Mythal Ragnos @Vandrad Ragnos @Serilda Sinclair

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mercy | Gunblade Master | Adamantian
Character | Vault & Tracker
Golden Lacrima until 2/5/2025

Theme Song:

by **Vandrad Ragnos** 2nd June 2023, 1:25 pm

Vandrad du Wolff-Ragnos | Energy Monarch | Ark of the Dread Masters | Traveller of the Multiverse | Bank
Golden Lacrima - Good until 7/16/2023

Vandrad Ragnos: - - -
Lineage : Traveller of the Multiverse
Position : None
Posts : 792
Guild : Fairy Tail
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 8,080,767

Character Sheet
First Skill: Energy Monarch
Second Skill: Ark of the Dread Masters
Third Skill:

Post n°12

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Vandrad Ragnos 2nd June 2023, 1:25 pm

There’s no fair or unfair in battle.

( There is only victory or in your case, defeat. )

Patricia would never claim to be the most considerate of her friends. She was pretty sure everyone outweighed her in that class. But she was learning how to show up more in moments when it was needed, truly embracing the connections she had made and giving them the due respect they deserved. So rather than just taking the tablet and moving onto whatever Mercury had brought her, she paused and drew her friend’s attention to her, wanting to know how she had been. The meeting had not been easy for anyone but Mercury had experienced the brunt of it. The Xocili had been in tears by the end, overwhelmed with everything and nearing a complete shutdown. If anyone understood what it was like to feel trapped, it was Patricia.

Mercury was about as well as anyone would be, all things considered. She was still very confused as she sighed and took the tablet finally. She understood that Maker had done a lot of terrible, awful things but listening to his words and how he viewed things, she saw a lot of her own experiences in him. With that awareness, she didn’t feel like she deserved the right to act as judge over him. The only way that would change is if the entire ordeal turned out to be a very convincing lie that he used to trick her; she didn’t think she was solely married to the idea of killing him to bring about an end to his plans. She looked fairly exhausted as she admitted that she even felt bad for deceiving him. She wasn’t going to stop or give up the game but she hoped that perhaps, with some influence with her, she could talk him into giving up on his current ideals and change his purpose in life. It would be a miracle but she hoped it was possible and then, just maybe, they wouldn’t have to kill him.

But she also understood where Vandrad and Blade stood. Maker’s attempts on Vandrad’s family had been more than enough to seal his fate in the future king’s mind. And Blade’s entire race had been extinguished thanks to Maker’s actions. They deserved a chance at justice and she wasn’t going to stand in the way of that. But she had lost the same eagerness that she had before. Now that she’d discovered that there were depths to Maker, it made it less simple. Vandrad understood why she felt the way she did and didn’t hold it against her, even understood and told her that it didn’t bother him. But that didn’t keep her from feeling guilty, like what had happened to the du Wolffs didn’t matter to her at all. Yet above all of that, what really bothered her was the fact that she couldn’t tell Maker about his brother’s diagnosis, if that was the right word. Even she hadn’t really settled that in her mind; she hadn’t really been able to come to terms that nothing could really be done.

Patricia nodded. “I understand. You’ve been put in an impossible situation. And based on everything you showed us from Maker, it’s hard not to… empathize with the duality of his story against Blade’s. It seems like things spiraled out of their control and their understanding and now Blade can’t believe that perhaps Maker wasn’t wholly at fault, at least intentionally. But I know Vandrad and his family know how much you care and how important this is to you. Otherwise you wouldn’t remain undercover. Arguably the easiest path is to just throw in the towel but you won’t do that, even as much as I imagine you want to,” she said, giving the woman a knowing but soft smile. “It is truly a travesty what is happening to Blade and what the end result must be. But he understood the risk he was taking, both then and now. I don’t know him very well but he seems like a worldly man that understands things very well. And maybe what’s happening to him will help us speed up the process to finally stopping Maker; light a fire under fate, as it was.”

She sighed softly. “Of course that’s just speculation. But I’m trying to say that what you’re feeling is valid. And I respect you more for having the willingness to take a step back and consider all sides rather than to just stubbornly carry on and ignore obvious clues and evidence. As if there was a way for me to find you any more attractive.” Well, that slipped out. “As a friend, of course. Not that you’re not attractive; quite the opposite, you’re very attractive. I’m honestly surprised how often I find myself wondering how attractive you are. Why am I still talking? I think I’m going to stop now.” Well she’d been trying so hard to show a compassionate, sympathetic side and instead she had… hit on Mercury? What a great friend she was.

Fighting back a blush, Patricia gestured to the screen. “Ah, here we are, all of Maker’s information up on the screen. No reason to linger on anything embarrassing that may or may not have been said.” She picked up her own small handheld tablet and began to sift through the information they were seeing. “Hm… it looks like Maker has made some progress in discerning how Energy Monarch -- why did I agree to start calling it that? -- can create branches. As you know, Energy Monarch is one of the purest forms of magical manipulation; the control of ethernano at its basest form. It’s why Vandrad, Scourge and Saffron don’t possess any particular strengths against different types of magic because they can utilize all types of magic born from ethernano. But the way that its put into action differs between the three of them, something Maker was just as curious about. It looks like he’d been recording the fight between Seberg and Saffron and Scourge and has an analysis on that as well.”

She pulled some more information onto the screen and cocked her head slightly. “Now isn’t that interesting. It seems that Maker believes that not only can Energy Monarch branch naturally, it can be forced to branch. He’s most likely trying to create an alteration that would incorporate Vandrad, Scourge and Saffron’s control all into one. Most of his trials have resulted in failure; mostly because, as I realized, the alteration of manipulation isn’t something one can just willingly change. It’s why Vandrad can’t simply do what Saffron does or the other way around. Each branch is its own living version of the magical construct, which brings us here…”

She brought up a small chart and compared it to another, similar one. “Maker and I came to the same conclusion. Energy Monarch is not the root of its magical type but a growth from it. Some other magic acted as the catalyst for Energy Monarch to evolve and then subsequent branches were created as well. He knows that he wouldn’t be able to activate the three branches unless he accesses the origin. But it seems he doesn’t know what it is… or at least, he hasn’t made it clear in the information he’s provided you.” She tapped her finger against her chin. “He does have some good theories here, a few algorithms I hadn’t considered. In fact, he may have struck upon something here…” she stepped forward and touched the screen. “Ethernanic entanglement between… interesting. It seemed Maker has information in here that Scourge had requested of him when they were still working for the Dread Masters. Scourge was looking for a way to either alter Energy Monarch or alter the Ark so that the two could work symbiotically together. Scourge has explained to me before that only portions of the Ark’s power can be utilized in harmony with Energy Monarch and only after intense training and practice. It seems like he wanted to make it so everything could be used interchangeably. Unfortunately, the building structure of the Ark was lost centuries ago and has been specifically constructed to prevent alterations without following particular steps. Fascinating…”

She turned to Mercury. “Sorry, I’m just rambling. When I really get in a space, I tend to just go right along with the flow. Say what we will about his methods and actions, Maker’s ability to hypothesize is extraordinary. I’m all sorts of flustered now; nothing like a good scientific read to get one all hot and bothered, right?” Patricia fanned herself with her free hand.

Words: 1421/5552 | Tag: @Mercury Arseneault | marzia at shine & gs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

by **Mercury Arseneault** 2nd June 2023, 6:00 pm

Mercury Arseneault: - - -
Lineage : Gold Rush
Position : None
Posts : 690
Cosmic Coins : 0
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 7,126,000

Character Sheet
First Skill: Gunblade Master
Second Skill: Mecha Primordial Slayer
Third Skill:

Post n°13

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mercury Arseneault 2nd June 2023, 6:00 pm

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects
and discovering other peoples' weaknesses.

It was moments like these where Mercury understood just how far she had come as a person over the last couple years. Even two or three years ago she would have never been able to just jump right into speaking the truth about what she was feeling, or even just understanding her feelings instead of brushing them aside where she didn’t have to be bothered by them. Not only that, but she couldn’t help but to be grateful for the quality of the people that had come into her life. Like Vandrad, Patty expressed her understanding of Mercury’s position on the matter, doing her part to assure the Xocili in regard to her in-laws as well as Blade’s own responsibility in what happened to him. Either way, she also believed that Mercury’s stance wasn’t anything she had to feel guilty about, and she found the Silver Wolf mage all the more attractive for being open minded enough to view all sides of the story without bias.

Mercury raised a slight brow as Patricia suddenly began to fumble over herself for the comment she’d made, which for once Mercury hadn’t taken the way it came out. But that went completely downhill as the doctor stammered out an excuse that only cause her to dig her own hole deeper, Mercury’s mouth settling into a mischievous little smirk until Patty finally expressed that she was just going to stop talking. Oh Patty, you should not have given me that kind of leverage, the future queen thought to herself, already working out the many ways in which she would be torturing Patricia in the days and months to come.

Turning her attention back to the screen, Patricia directed Mercury back toward that topic so they wouldn’t have to “linger on anything embarrassing that may or may not have been said.” Honestly, it was like she didn’t know Mercury at all. Ah well, more fun for the Xocili! For now, however, she listened as the doctor started dissecting the information.

It seemed Maker had been doing research into the ability for Energy Monarch to create branches of itself. While the magic itself was one of the purest forms of being able to manipulate ethernano, which was how the three current users didn’t have any trouble handling any kind of energy, they did all have vastly different ways of utilizing it. He’d even observed the fight with Saffron and Scourge versus Seberg to get a better understanding of Saffron’s version of the magic, which was what they had assumed. What was more interesting, however, was that Maker seemed to be of the inclination that branches could be forced, and as such Patricia guesstimated that he was trying to find a way to combine the three other’s version of the magic into one. Thus far he’d been unsuccessful, which did not surprise Patty as her own research and experience told her that wouldn’t be possible the way he was attempting it.

However, she brought up something that was far more fascinating. Mercury leaned forward where she sat on the table to get a better look at the chart Patricia had pulled up. It was small, but the information on it was surprising. It listed both Scourge and Vandrad’s versions of Energy Monarch, as well as Saffron’s Energy Barbarian… but all three were subclasses under an as of yet unnamed “Source Magic”. According to the doctor, she had come to the same conclusion some time back that Energy Monarch itself was also a submagic that had stemmed from something else, and whatever that origin was, it was the key to unlocking control over the other branches, according to Maker.

“Well, some of this he gave me and some of it I stole. At this point I would be surprised if I had missed anything on this one; out of all the projects he tried to keep off my radar, this wasn’t as high up on the list as other things. What in the world could possibly be more all-encompassing than Energy Monarch though..?” Even Mercury hadn’t ever considered that Vandrad’s magic had been born of another. Granted, she hadn’t had nearly as long to study magic or even be aware of its existence as the rest of Earthland. In comparison to Patricia, Mercury was likely still a novice in many ways when it came to understanding magic and magical theory, despite everything she’d learned at Silver Wolf since coming to the planet.

It was at this point that Patricia started going off on a scientific tangent not unlike those that Mercury herself was prone to. She didn’t interrupt, merely listening and following along as Patricia spoke out loud regarding the evidence of Scourge asking Maker to research ways to allow Energy Monarch and the Ark to work more fluidly together, a task that had been all but impossible for him since the lore of the Ark had been lost over the last several centuries.

“I’m certainly not complaining,” was Mercury’s response to Patty being hot and bothered, the Xocili making no effort to hide the once over she gave the other woman. Her smirk was rooted firmly in place, pleased as punch. “I have plenty of other stuff I stole from him that I could lend you if you really want me to rile you up. Hell, I can give you an exact replica of his entire mainframe if you wanted something really exotic to tinker with and dissect.”

“Or maybe I’ll just lay down on a lab table somewhere and let you finally examine me... You know. For science.”

WORDS: 932/4880 | @Mythal Ragnos @Vandrad Ragnos @Serilda Sinclair

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mercy | Gunblade Master | Adamantian
Character | Vault & Tracker
Golden Lacrima until 2/5/2025

Theme Song:

by **Vandrad Ragnos** 2nd June 2023, 8:01 pm

Vandrad du Wolff-Ragnos | Energy Monarch | Ark of the Dread Masters | Traveller of the Multiverse | Bank
Golden Lacrima - Good until 7/16/2023

Vandrad Ragnos: - - -
Lineage : Traveller of the Multiverse
Position : None
Posts : 792
Guild : Fairy Tail
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 8,080,767

Character Sheet
First Skill: Energy Monarch
Second Skill: Ark of the Dread Masters
Third Skill:

Post n°14

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Vandrad Ragnos 2nd June 2023, 8:01 pm

There’s no fair or unfair in battle.

( There is only victory or in your case, defeat. )

Patricia was known for letting her thoughts get away from her, going on scientific tangents that could last several minutes without end. It was something that she had never really attempted to temper because it was usually to herself, with others observing. But the Rune Knights and the Xocili and Rhaegarians actually shared similar traits, following her train of thought and adding to it rather than staring in wonder and, sometimes, annoyance. They enjoyed her process and sought to help her along with it and so it had gotten ‘worse’ with all of the people that had acknowledged it and accepted it. But that didn’t keep her from feeling the need to apologize for it every so often, realizing just how far down the rabbit hole she’d allowed herself to go. That and she loved to talk about magical theory. If there was anything that could be considered a full aphrodisiac to the scientist, it was theory, theorizing and testing. And she was getting perfect examples of Maker’s work right in front of her.

So she took a moment to apologize to Mercury for her tangent and offered a little explanation, even a little playful banter in terms of how it affected her. Mercury, it seemed, appreciated the sight and even took a moment to look her up and down. Patricia felt the oddest flutter in her body that she hadn’t experienced in the longest time. Her face flushed slightly and she swallowed as Mercury offered to give her more if she was really up to it. In fact, she could give Patricia a perfect replica of his mainframe for her to study and mess around with if she wanted. Further than that, she offered to go and lay down on a lab table and let her examine her for scientific means. Now it definitely had a different connotation and considering the air and mood that was, for some reason, being set, Patricia should have picked up on the queue. But the offer to thoroughly examine Mercury nearly brought stars to her eyes in excitement.

“Really?!” she asked, clearly excited. “I know you’d promised to let me examine you before but we never had the time and I would love nothing more than to check you out. I just didn’t want to be rude and keep asking and make you feel like a test subject! But if you’re offering--” It was then that it hit her to what Mercury was actually trying to insinuate. Smart as she was, sometimes Patricia could be a little slow on the uptake when it came to street smarts. “Oh!” she replied, suddenly far more bashful than she was a moment ago. She reached up and twirled a single strand of her hair with her finger. “Uh, that is very kind of you and as my atrociously embarrassing scene from moments ago probably showed, it’s not like I would be uninterested but I just uh…” Where was she going with this? Was it getting outrageously hot in there? She once more had to fan herself.

“S-So you said you had his mainframe? T-That would be something to see.” Patricia had to quickly turn away from Mercury, as she realized that her eyes had drifted down to also check the Xocili out. She’d been so good about admiring Mercury’s form without getting caught before but now she was suddenly struck by a school girl's giddiness. “What, uh, other things did you happen to get access to? I’d love to see everything you have to offer.” Realizing how that sounded, she whirled around and waved her hands. “In terms of what you took from Maker. Not in terms of what you have to offer but as I said before -- you know what, I’m just going to stop talking. I’m going to sit over here and just… not talk for a minute.” And she did just that; Patricia walked back over to her desk, plopped down in her chair and stared hard at her desk, her cheeks as rosy as apples and her eyes as wide as plates. She was making an utter fool of herself and it would probably be better if she just took a moment to collect herself. Who knows what other embarrassing things she would say if she didn’t?

Words: 715/6267 | Tag: @Mercury Arseneault | marzia at shine & gs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

by **Mercury Arseneault** 3rd June 2023, 1:16 pm

Mercury Arseneault: - - -
Lineage : Gold Rush
Position : None
Posts : 690
Cosmic Coins : 0
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 7,126,000

Character Sheet
First Skill: Gunblade Master
Second Skill: Mecha Primordial Slayer
Third Skill:

Post n°15

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mercury Arseneault 3rd June 2023, 1:16 pm

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects
and discovering other peoples' weaknesses.

It took a moment for understanding to dawn on Patricia, the doctor jumping at the chance to examine Mercury’s body and going off on an entire tangent before enlightenment struck her. All Mercury did was continue to grin, the expression somehow even more shit-eating than it had already been. A wave of shyness suddenly washed over Patty, who adorably started playing with a lock of her hair as she fumbled with a response once more.

Doing her best to change the subject away from her growing embarrassment, Patty attempted to shift gears to Maker’s mainframe, though not before realizing that she’d been letting her eyes wander. She asked what else Mercury had been able to get her hands on, curious what all she “had to offer”, only to realize exactly how that sounded. Whirling around, she doubled down on what she’d actually meant, insisting that it hadn’t been intended as a sexual invitation, not that she was against the idea, only for her to decide that talking wasn’t helping her case at all. She elected to sit at her desk, her cheeks beyond red and her vital signs off the charts.

“Oh sure, no problem. You don’t need to say anything, anyway. You can just listen, and I’ll do all the talking.” A troubling statement if there ever was one, and Mercury intended on delivering on her unspoken promise to make this entire situation worse for the doctor. Even though she really didn’t need to, the Xocili summoned another tablet, cleared her throat and began to read from the file she had pulled up: Maker’s notes and research on the Rhaegarian blood markers. However, it sounded less like she was reading from a scientific journal and more like she was dramatically reading from a particularly smutty chapter of one of Faron’s romance novels.

As she read, she used her free hand to pick up a nearby surgical knife, twirling it idly between her fingers… only to pause her oration to deftly cut open the front of her shirt to give it a plunging neckline that very nearly left her entire chest exposed. “Oh no. I am just so clumsy,” she remarked, her tone doing nothing to hide the fact that she had absolutely done that on purpose before she went right back to reading Maker’s notes out loud in a slow and sultry fashion.

WORDS: 394/5274 | @Mythal Ragnos @Vandrad Ragnos @Serilda Sinclair

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mercy | Gunblade Master | Adamantian
Character | Vault & Tracker
Golden Lacrima until 2/5/2025

Theme Song:

by **Vandrad Ragnos** 3rd June 2023, 2:18 pm

Vandrad du Wolff-Ragnos | Energy Monarch | Ark of the Dread Masters | Traveller of the Multiverse | Bank
Golden Lacrima - Good until 7/16/2023

Vandrad Ragnos: - - -
Lineage : Traveller of the Multiverse
Position : None
Posts : 792
Guild : Fairy Tail
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 8,080,767

Character Sheet
First Skill: Energy Monarch
Second Skill: Ark of the Dread Masters
Third Skill:

Post n°16

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Vandrad Ragnos 3rd June 2023, 2:18 pm

There’s no fair or unfair in battle.

( There is only victory or in your case, defeat. )

It was not often that Patricia was put in a place where she didn’t have words. In fact, it was more accurate to say that she almost always had something to say about anything going on around her. And that wasn’t to say that Patty didn’t have anything to say about her own ridiculous thoughts coming out in full blast without filter or pause. But nothing she had to say would excuse or distract from what could only be considered the bi-curious ramblings of a woman that was severely outclassed by her friend. Patty was confident in a lot of things about herself but she’d always lacked the time or freedom to truly explore just how wide her sexuality was. She’d always assumed, like most women do, that her sexuality was a constantly moving target. She recognized when women were pretty and had even fashioned a fantasy or two over the years about a handful of them, privately kept away from anyone else.

But Mercury was different and while she didn’t just view her friend as a thing to marvel at, there was still no denying that to someone as fixated and involved in technological advancement, the Xocili race was worth wondering and praising from a scientific standpoint. But it was more than that; Mercury and by extension her people, had gone through trials and terror that few would ever know. And she still shone with such confidence and tenacity, despite it all. She’d like Mercury from the start but she never could have predicted just how much she would respect and even idolize her.

Yet that was the furthest thing from her mind at the moment. Mercury was showcasing her full abilities to take control of a situation and run it. Even among her friends, the Xocili knew when she could play around and even seduce them. Patricia had left the door open and Mercury happily stepped in through the opening to see what she could really do. The good doctor sat herself down, hoping that she could have a moment to collect herself but instead Mercury spoke up immediately, stating that she didn’t need to talk; she just had to listen while Mercury talked to her. Patricia opened her mouth to try and stop whatever was going to happen but something stopped her. Her own curiosity, most likely; wondering exactly what it was that Mercury was planning on doing. She felt a ripple of… excitement. She was acutely aware that she was being seduced and yet she didn’t fight against it.

How Mercury knew just how to turn her dial, there was no telling. Then again, she had said that reading scientific documentation treated her in a specific way. Still, there was no denying just how jaw-droppingly sexy it was as Mercury pulled out another tablet and began to read the notes that Maker had taken on the Rhaegarian Blood Markers. But it wasn’t the cold, dry reading of statistics that one might find in a lecture; instead, she was taking her time, her voice husky and involved with each vowel, like she was ladling honey over each individual letter. Patricia was hardly away at how far back she had leaned in her chair, staring wide-eyed at the Xocili as she put on such an erotic show. Others may not find it as tantalizing but for Patricia, it was more pornographic than some of the parties she had attended on New Rhaegar.

Mercury reached out for one of her specifically placed surgical knives, twirling it gently between her fingers almost mindlessly as she read. But she paused long enough to bring it down and slice nearly and smoothly into the shirt she was wearing, easily tearing the fabric, revealing almost all of her chest for the doctor’s eyes. Patricia, once more without thinking, let out a shuddered moan of neediness as she stared at Mercury’s revealed cleavage. Her body felt like it had been cast into flames and she felt almost completely out of breath. She was barely aware that she had even reached out to lightly pull on her own shirt, as if her body was just as willing to try and join her friend in disrobing.

“U-Um…” She finally managed to speak, her eyes quickly flicking between Mercury’s eyes and her chest. She swallowed hard. “Mercury… correct me if I’m incorrect but…I… do believe you’re trying to seduce me…”

Words: 733/6989 | Tag: @Mercury Arseneault | marzia at shine & gs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

by **Mercury Arseneault** 3rd June 2023, 6:08 pm

Mercury Arseneault: - - -
Lineage : Gold Rush
Position : None
Posts : 690
Cosmic Coins : 0
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 7,126,000

Character Sheet
First Skill: Gunblade Master
Second Skill: Mecha Primordial Slayer
Third Skill:

Post n°17

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mercury Arseneault 3rd June 2023, 6:08 pm

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects
and discovering other peoples' weaknesses.

Poor, poor Patty.

The woman simply wasn’t prepared for the level of gusto with which Mercury was gunning for her, nor how easily she was able to read a person to find out what made them tick – not that Patricia had ever really hidden anything about herself. Reading off Maker’s notes was most certainly doing a lot of things for her human companion, the doctor practically transfixed. And then Mercury gave her a little bit of a show, cutting open her shirt just enough to give an ample view of her cleavage, a little teasing of what was beneath the garment, drawing quite the moan from the doctor, who was very much looking like she was about ready to strip naked herself.

Finally, Patricia interrupted Mercury to ask her outright if she was trying to seduce her. Mercury flicked her gaze up to meet her eyes, a deep and confident smirk on her face. “Well, let’s see. Your heart rate is currently at one hundred and fifty-four beats per minute, your body heat has increased by precisely three point two degrees, there’s a slight build up of perspiration on your face and chest, and your breathing has elevated to forty-six breaths per minute… so I’d say it’s less ‘trying’ and more ‘succeeding’.”

Was she being a little cruel, utilizing all the things she knew that Patricia would find fascinating about her – such as her ability to accurately read a person’s vitals at a glance without any medical instruments – to drive her even more wild? Probably, but that wasn’t going to stop Mercury in the least. This was far, far too much fun. Dismissing her tablet, Mercury lounged back a bit on the table, propping herself up with one arm and causing her body to elongate itself, her chest popping up just enough to draw more attention to it.

Slowly, she took the fingers of her free hand and drew them gently down the valley of her breasts before slipping the digits beneath the torn hem of one side of her shirt, not pulling it far enough back to reveal anything just yet but certainly playing with the edge of the frayed fabric enough to heighten the teasing. “If you’re truly interested in seeing what all my body can do… doctor... you are more than welcome to come over here and do a little stress testing with me. But we’ll probably have to run multiple test… you know, to ensure the results are accurate and consistent.”

WORDS: 418/5692 | @Mythal Ragnos @Vandrad Ragnos @Serilda Sinclair

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mercy | Gunblade Master | Adamantian
Character | Vault & Tracker
Golden Lacrima until 2/5/2025

Theme Song:

by **Vandrad Ragnos** 3rd June 2023, 8:07 pm

Vandrad du Wolff-Ragnos | Energy Monarch | Ark of the Dread Masters | Traveller of the Multiverse | Bank
Golden Lacrima - Good until 7/16/2023

Vandrad Ragnos: - - -
Lineage : Traveller of the Multiverse
Position : None
Posts : 792
Guild : Fairy Tail
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 8,080,767

Character Sheet
First Skill: Energy Monarch
Second Skill: Ark of the Dread Masters
Third Skill:

Post n°18

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Vandrad Ragnos 3rd June 2023, 8:07 pm

There’s no fair or unfair in battle.

( There is only victory or in your case, defeat. )

Patricia was absolutely not prepared. She’d started her day thinking it was going to be a relatively normal day. Even seeing Mercury wasn’t anything out of the ordinary while working on the island, though it was always a welcome one. She thought she’d get some work done and then clock out, as usual. Instead, she found herself being completely and utterly dominated in a game of playful seduction from the Xocili, hands gripping both her own clothing and the seat she was sitting in as Mercury all but put on a strip show for her. The way she read Maker’s information was so remarkably tantalizing that she was completely flushed. She hadn’t believed herself capable of being so easily seduced but there were a lot of factors to consider. One was that Mercury was very good at this, ranking in levels that Patricia had never thought to estimate or calculate.

Before she could continue down the list in her head, she felt the need to clarify the situation. Gods only knew if Mercury laughed and said she was just teasing and stopped; Patty would probably pass completely out on the floor. But instead the Xocili doubled down and instead gave a detailed reading of her vitals, estimating her heart rate, her body heat and her breathing. All the finer details that other people may have frowned or gotten confused at but Patricia nearly vibrated out of the chair. Her ability to analyze and process information was absolutely astounding and one hundred percent adding to the mood. And Mercury was so confident, stating that there was simply no trying and simply accomplishing her goal of seducing Patricia.

The doctor could only watch as Mercury did away with her tablet and lounged on the table, making herself not only comfortable but someone worth looking at and admiring. She was presenting herself without hindrance, even going so far as to run her fingers between her bosom to draw the attention there. And Patricia fell for it hook, line and sinker, eyes wide behind her glasses as she stared, almost drooling. Of course the second factor, which was now slipping into her mind, was the fact that she had not been with anyone in years. Oh she was not a stickler on self release and considering the number of rambunctious parties she had attended on the island, she would engage in that act more often than most people probably assumed. But she had not copulated with a man in years, the last being unremarkable. She’d very nearly gotten together with Vandrad before everything had gone sideways. And she’d never been with a woman, as was continuously reminded in her head.

But gender didn’t really seem to matter to her at the moment. Mercury offered Patricia the chance to see what her body could do, inviting her to come and ‘experiment’ on her, which carried several layers of connotations. And it sounded like it wasn’t going to be a singular event but multiple rounds of ‘testing’ to ensure that her results were accurate and consistent. She even made foreplay scientific. It just wasn’t fair how well it worked. Patricia slowly pushed herself to her feet, her body practically in a meltdown of shaking as it tried to rationalize her own arousal. She took a couple of quick breaths in an attempt to steel herself as she walked over to stand in front of Mercury, inhaling slowly through her nose and out through her mouth. “I would… love a chance to… stress test your body…” she said slowly, barely keeping herself together as she spoke.

Her hands went to the knot of her shirt, her fingers making quick work of it and loosening it. But before she pulled it back, she realized that she should, probably, solidify her willingness. Usually people did that with a kiss, right? She gently reached out to take Mercury by the arms, trying to ignore how soft and warm she was, and then, even so slowly, she leaned in and… kissed her.

Gods yes! It was like a switch flipped in her mind. The gentle, tender, nervous kiss disappeared almost as quickly as it came and she was soon melting into it, falling into Mercury, moaning softly as she gave herself to a need she didn’t even know she had or know she wanted. But there was no turning back now, not that she would have anyways. Patricia rarely ever backed down from the opportunity to thoroughly experiment a hypothesis…

“Well, I think it is safe to conclude that I am not nearly as heterosexual as I once believed.”

Surprisingly, they had managed not to completely wreck her lab. There were a few things that had been pushed around, mostly things that had been grabbed and utilized in fun, exciting new ways she never considered. Patricia lay against the ground next to the Xocili, on a bed of their clothes that had been hastily pulled off… an hour ago? She’d lost track of time, which was entirely new to her. She guesstimated that it had, at least, been two hours. Two hours of furious, homosexual copulation in her place of work…

Gods, if that wasn’t the dream. She’d never even realized it had been one until that moment. Patricia quite literally could not wipe the satisfied smile from her face as she rolled onto her side to look at Mercury. “Would it be weird to say that I’ve fantasized about something like this but with Vandrad and you? Not that I am complaining at all; quite the opposite, in fact, this far outdid all the male lovers I’ve been with. Not one of them would have ever convinced me to fool around in my own lab.”

Words: 955/7944 | Tag: @Mercury Arseneault | marzia at shine & gs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

by **Mercury Arseneault** 4th June 2023, 8:05 am

Mercury Arseneault: - - -
Lineage : Gold Rush
Position : None
Posts : 690
Cosmic Coins : 0
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 7,126,000

Character Sheet
First Skill: Gunblade Master
Second Skill: Mecha Primordial Slayer
Third Skill:

Post n°19

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mercury Arseneault 4th June 2023, 8:05 am

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects
and discovering other peoples' weaknesses.

This certainly was not what Mercury had intended to accomplish when she’d joined Patricia in her lab today, but in hindsight the Xocili honestly was surprised that it had taken her this long to try. Patty was an absolutely stunning knockout of a woman with a brilliant mind and a surprisingly and delightfully immature sense of humor despite her more dignified mannerisms. It had taken Mercury a while to come around on the doctor, if only because so much about her at first had painted her as an enemy that was trying to use Vandrad. But once they’d learned the truth about her things changed. Mercury still fondly remembered the photograph Patricia had so casually taken of Vandrad holding that sex toy when they’d met in Lusty Titans, an act that had endeared the doctor to her very quickly.

And now here they were, Patricia about ready to throw herself at the other woman and needing just a little bit of encouragement to push past whatever dredges of hesitation she was having, and Mercury was all too willing to assist. So she continued to play up sexualizing the scientific talk, giving Patty one last offer to basically come do whatever she wanted to her. The human was so unbelievably aroused that she almost couldn’t even stand, her words coming through with slow focus as she worked to keep herself under control. She approached Mercury and started quickly trying to loosen the knot at the front of her own shirt before she stopped, causing the Xocili to raise a brow in interest. It was like something had just occurred to the doctor, and apparently that revelation was that she wanted to kiss Mercury.

As her hands reached out to take Mercury’s arms, Mercury reciprocated by pulling the other woman closer around the waist, giving her a sultry and hungry little smile. Patricia was slow to move, and that was fine with Mercury. She understood that the doctor had never been with a woman before and she wasn’t about to take this any faster than Patty was comfortable with, more than happy to meet her at her pace. Their lips met and Mercury kept the slow standard that Patricia had set, though her confidence in the exchange was much stronger than Patty’s… for the briefest of moments. It took only a second or two before Patricia must have decided to either throw all caution to the wind or that she just really liked what was happening, because there was a sudden shift in energy as the doctor fully threw herself into the act, causing Mercury to grin and steer into the skid with her.

A couple hours later both women found themselves cuddled up on the ground in the remnants of their clothing, Patricia beaming like a kid that had just spent a day at a theme park and Mercury looking downright smug. Patty commented about not being as heterosexual as she once believed, causing Mercury to chuckle as she trailed the tips of her nails slowly along the doctor’s skin. “I’d say that is a valid conclusion.”

Patricia rolled over to look at Mercury, admitting that she’d fantasized about something similar to this in the past, but Vandrad had been involved. Not that she had any complaints about this. Apparently, it was much more gratifying than the times she’d slept with men in the past, particularly seeing as none of them would have ever been able to convince her to have sex in her lab. Mercury grinned. “Well, then I guess we’ll just have to do this again sometime and make sure Vandrad shows up. He’ll put up a front, but trust me, I know for a fact that he’s attracted to you. Sometimes he just takes a little bullying. I’m more than happy to give you some pointers, especially now that I finally tricked him into sleeping with Agatha. I’m no longer the only woman he’s slept with, and I don’t think he’s quite prepared for the number of women I’m about to start throwing at him, starting with you and Monica. So please, by all means, if you find an opportunity to shoot your shot with him I’m practically begging to you take it. Push him the right way and he’s a complete fucking animal in the sack; you won’t be disappointed.”

WORDS: 723/6415 | @Mythal Ragnos @Vandrad Ragnos @Serilda Sinclair

_____________________________________________________________________________________

Mercy | Gunblade Master | Adamantian
Character | Vault & Tracker
Golden Lacrima until 2/5/2025

Theme Song:

by **Vandrad Ragnos** 4th June 2023, 9:17 am

Vandrad du Wolff-Ragnos | Energy Monarch | Ark of the Dread Masters | Traveller of the Multiverse | Bank
Golden Lacrima - Good until 7/16/2023

Vandrad Ragnos: - - -
Lineage : Traveller of the Multiverse
Position : None
Posts : 792
Guild : Fairy Tail
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 8,080,767

Character Sheet
First Skill: Energy Monarch
Second Skill: Ark of the Dread Masters
Third Skill:

Post n°20

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Vandrad Ragnos 4th June 2023, 9:17 am

There’s no fair or unfair in battle.

( There is only victory or in your case, defeat. )

This was a semi-charmed kind of life that Patricia was living. She was able to do her research as she saw fit, free from the commands and demands of organizations that wanted to use her developments for their own greedy self-promotions. She’d become part of a family, an aunt to two beautiful little girls that, while she had no blood relation to them, loved them like her own and would do anything to protect them. And she had friends that she would protect with her own life and would do the same for her and, apparently, would also willingly sleep with her and offer up their own spouses as well.

She had crossed the threshold of her sexuality into something new, something exciting. Patricia had dedicated a decent amount of time wondering how two women would effectively sleep with each other and all of her conclusions, while spot on, paled into comparison to actually experiencing it firsthand. It probably helped that Mercury was far more experienced than she was and was able to take control and guide her through it. The result was several hours of the two of them getting to know one another intimately and a very satisfied, very relieved Patricia Reeves, finally. One could argue that she was about ready to jump anyone that tried to seduce her; after all, she had been severely lacking in taking anyone or being taken by anyone to bed. While she, herself, was able to provide relief, it was always something else entirely when another person was involved. And it was possible that was part of it; but if she were truly unattracted to women, she wouldn’t have been so easily swayed and seduced.

No, she accepted that not only was her preference varied but that she had always wanted to get a chance with Mercury. There was no denying her attraction to Vandrad as well but the Xocili was far more charming than the future king and Patricia liked a bit of charm to get her engine going. Plus, to use more basic terminology, Mercury was gorgeous and it was hard not to look at her and wonder what it was like to be with her. The difference is most people that wondered that had gotten to experience it, whereas Patricia hadn’t. Now she had been added to the list and Mercury had been added to her’s as her first female connection.

She was certainly going to have to do some reorganizing, once the afterglow had faded and the two of them were forced to reenter reality. But at the moment, Patricia was satisfied; no, happy. She’d gotten several new experiences in a short amount of time and was well and truly fulfilled. She let out a small sigh as Mercury added her thoughts to Patricia’s classification, giggling. My Gods, it had been so long since she’d actually giggled. She turned to face Mercury, propping herself up with an arm as the Xocili gently trailed her fingers on her body. “Careful, Mercury; I’m still caught up in the flow of new experiences. And as a scientist, I am always eager to repeat a successful experiment after a brief period of rest.” She warned the woman teasingly, giving her a playful smirk as she leaned in to gently kiss Mercury once more.

She, too, reached over to gently run her fingers over Mercury’s body as she Xocili insisted that they would have to repeat the physical activity again but with Vandrad included. Mercury knew that he’d been gruff and grumpy about it but she also knew that he was very attracted to Patricia. All it would take was some pushing to get him there and she was happy to provide some insight into seducing Vandrad, especially now that he couldn’t claim that he was a one woman man. He’d slept with Agatha and that had opened a door that Mercury fully intended to make use of, starting with her and Monica. With that in mind, she encouraged Patricia to take her opportunity if it presented itself and promised that Vandrad would deliver in ways she couldn’t even imagine. The doctor chuckled softly. “It may not come as a surprise to learn that I am not one to take the initiative in most cases. Once I’ve established a relationship with someone, then I’m not afraid to ‘make a move’ as it were but the first move? I almost always need prompting. Otherwise, I would have engaged you much sooner than this, I believe. But with advice and pointers from you, perhaps I can break free of my exhaustive protocols and try something new. I clearly already have,” she said, indicating between the two of them.

“And I am glad to hear that this can continue. I understand your relationship with Vandrad is what some may define as ‘open’ but I never wanted to assume that I could insert myself in as an optional second or third for either one or both of you. Usually my level of scandal involves being involved in malicious organizations without understanding what I’m accomplishing,” she joked dryly. “Though I… did get involved with my lab professor during my educational years. He was married at the time but apparently they were also in an open relationship, or so he claimed. It was very taboo, as I was his student, but that just made it more exciting for me. I’d been very by the book up until that point and had rarely been shown any kind of affectionate attention.”

She sighed softly. “I haven’t thought about that for years. He’d be shocked by our use of a spring scale,” she added with a smile, picking up the aforementioned meter tool in her hand before placing it back down. “Before I forget… thank you. I know it sounds banal to thank someone for sex but I have been severely lacking for some years now and I wouldn’t trust any other woman to experiment with. I’m still trying to wrap my head around it but I know it was something I needed and something I’ve wanted for some time. And would like to continue moving forward; Gods, that makes me sound like a needful slut, doesn’t it?” she chuckled before leaning down to cuddle close to Mercury. She just lay there for a few minutes, taking in Xocili’s scent and honestly, just enjoying the comfort of being close to her.

After those several minutes of relaxation, she spoke up. “So… since it seems boundaries are something we no longer need…” she started as she reached down and slowly ran her nails along the back of Mercury’s leg. “You wouldn’t happen to know how… Scourge or Hosrius are in bed, would you?”

Words: 1120/9064 | Tag: @Mercury Arseneault | marzia at shine & gs.

_____________________________________________________________________________________

by **Mercury Arseneault** 4th June 2023, 5:00 pm

Mercury Arseneault: - - -
Lineage : Gold Rush
Position : None
Posts : 690
Cosmic Coins : 0
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 7,126,000

Character Sheet
First Skill: Gunblade Master
Second Skill: Mecha Primordial Slayer
Third Skill:

Post n°21

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mercury Arseneault 4th June 2023, 5:00 pm

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects
and discovering other peoples' weaknesses.

“Don’t threaten me with a good time,” the alien retorted, all too happy to receive another sweet kiss from Patty.

She gave her thoughts about Patty’s admitted fantasy, not doing a whole lot to discourage the idea and in fact making suggestions on how to make it happen. Or at the very least how to help Patricia finally get Vandrad into bed. The doctor admitted that she wasn’t well versed in being proactive about her own sex life. Once she had established a relationship with someone that was well enough, but making the first move had never been her strong suit. If it had, this would have happened between them much sooner. However, she seemed receptive to getting some lessons from Mercury to start trying something new. Or well, additional new things.

Either way, Patricia seemed glad to know this wasn’t necessarily a one-and-done situation. She’d known that the affianced couple weren’t exactly monogamous but didn’t want to assume that meant she was able to take part in any extracurriculars with either of them. Typically, she limited her illicit affairs to working for evil organizations, earning an amused chuckle from Mercury… who’s head promptly turned to her on swivel when Patty admitted to a very real affair she’d had as a student with one of her professors. “Damn, Patty-Cake, I’m impressed. You must have had a hard time in all his classes listening to his lectures, I imagine?” She gave the other woman a cheeky, knowing grin.

Surprisingly, Patty thanked Mercury for the sex, admitting she knew it was a weird thing to thank someone for but given how long it had been for her she felt it was appropriate. She claimed that she wouldn’t have trusted any other woman with helping her test the limits of her sexual orientation, even if she was still trying to come to grips with it after the fact. “Yeah, but you’re a hot needful slut, so no complaints here.” Mercury’s grin settled down into a softer smile. “And you are very welcome, Patty.” She wrapped her arm around the woman’s shoulder as Patricia snuggled against her, giving the redhead a soft kiss on the forehead.

The two simply laid there in quiet, comfortable satisfaction for several minutes before Patricia voiced a question that, from the sounds of it, she’d been wanting to ask for some time: How Scourge and Hosrius were in bed. Mercury groaned in humorous exasperation. “Would you believe that I haven’t even gotten to sleep with Scourge yet? We talked about it months ago, but we haven’t been able to make it happen yet. Pretty much the only opportunity we had I wound up sleeping with Genesis instead. Scourge is a phenomenal kisser though, I’ll tell you that much. And he definitely knows what to do with his hands.”

She giggled a little deviously, her mind drifting back fondly to the way they’d flirted and been all over each other at the casino. Scourge hadn’t been even a little shy about where or how often he touched her that night. But then she craned her neck a bit to peer down at Patty. “Hosrius, though.. That one surprises me. Not a lot of humans are willing to consider someone outside of their own species – at least, not ones that are so obviously alien, as opposed to myself… but if you want to try barking up that tree while you have the chance, I highly recommend it. He’s a very skilled lover. Playful, charming, sensuous, passionate. And he has a really long tongue, if you catch my drift. Mmph.” She gave a little shiver at the memory. “He’s the kind of guy that pampers you before, during, and after.”

“And honestly, you could have asked me about this kind of stuff before. Boundaries aren’t something I’ve ever really had. Anyone else you want to know about? Blade? Grubar? Agatha or Ruzatz? Here, I’ll just bring up the list and you can ask me about anyone you’re curious about.” With a wave, she materialized a tablet and sure enough there was a whole list. In fact, there was actually a bingo card of Vandrad’s entire family that was nearly entirely filled out, the only exceptions being Serilda, Mythal, Vriko, and Gren’s brother and nephew. People that weren’t related to Vandrad in some way were on a separate list of their own, of which there were quite a few, including Maker.

WORDS: 739/7154 | @Mythal Ragnos @Vandrad Ragnos @Serilda Sinclair

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Mercy | Gunblade Master | Adamantian
Character | Vault & Tracker
Golden Lacrima until 2/5/2025

Theme Song:

by **Vandrad Ragnos** 4th June 2023, 6:07 pm

Vandrad du Wolff-Ragnos | Energy Monarch | Ark of the Dread Masters | Traveller of the Multiverse | Bank
Golden Lacrima - Good until 7/16/2023

Vandrad Ragnos: - - -
Lineage : Traveller of the Multiverse
Position : None
Posts : 792
Guild : Fairy Tail
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 8,080,767

Character Sheet
First Skill: Energy Monarch
Second Skill: Ark of the Dread Masters
Third Skill:

Post n°22

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Vandrad Ragnos 4th June 2023, 6:07 pm

There’s no fair or unfair in battle.

( There is only victory or in your case, defeat. )

Patricia, honestly, probably only needed a couple more minutes to recharge before she was ready to go again. The scientist had gone through a very long dry spell and now that it had been brought to an end, she had gallons of energy to go in terms of experimentation. And it seemed that Mercury wasn’t altogether against it, though frankly it was nice to just… lay back and revel in the afterglow for a bit longer. Plus Mercury seemed inclined to give Patty’s fantasy some due respect, more than willing to help her bag Vandrad, as the phrasing went. And she was relieved to hear that she could continue to experiment with Mercury; if she was going to adopt a full range of sexual exploits, may as well learn from someone that was more experienced than her. Though she did have some exposure to taking part in affairs, as she brought up her fling with her former lab professor. Mercury was impressed to hear about it and assumed that it was probably difficult to listen to him during lectures. “Oh no, rather easily actually. The difficult part was when he would…” she paused, unsure how much detail she really wanted to reveal. But, considering their state of dress and what they had done over the last few hours, it seemed silly to get bashful now. “I was his teacher’s assistant while also taking his class. And there was a barrier between the front of the class and the rest of it. Well, as a TA, I was exempt from certain tests that my other classmates had to complete. So he would… get me all riled up before class and then ask me to fellate him during the exam. I did that probably four or five times.”

It was, admittedly, pretty scandalous, especially for someone who seemed so reserved as Patricia. Then again, she had gotten hot and bothered making out with Vandrad and had very nearly done the same thing in the middle of a park. Nonetheless, if Mercury was impressed before, she would probably be downright surprised then. After their short exchange with Patricia thanking her and Mercury showing her appreciation, they simply cuddled in comfortable silence before the doctor decided to bring up two other thoughts she’d had before concerning Scourge and Hosrius. Mercury was quite upset over the fact that she hadn’t slept with Scourge. They had discussed fairly openly but hadn’t gotten an opportunity to make it happen. They’d had a chance but she had slept with Genesis instead. What she could tell Patricia was that he was a very good kisser and he knew how to use his hands. “Oh! Well it sounds like you still had some fun with him then.” Mercury was probably the only one that knew that Patricia was, at the very least, very attracted to Scourge’s physique, having remarked in confidence to the Xocili once or twice when she had been appreciating him.

But she’d never mentioned Hosrius before and it clearly surprised Mercury, who craned her neck to look down at her. Patty lifted herself up a bit to rest on the Xocili’s chest, using it as a sort of pillow. She admitted that she believed most humans would pause at such a thought, considering how extraordinarily alien he was. But she suggested that Patricia go for it while she had the opportunity and gave her a quick overview of some of Hosrius’ advantages when it came to the bedroom, happily reliving her experience with his extra long tongue. “I know it’s unusual but I think it’s less about him physically and more about his personality. He’s quite the gentleman; kind and caring. Plus, as a scientist, I would be remiss if I didn’t take the time to experiment with as many aliens as possible, though I think I may… avoid Grubar. He’s told me, quite boldly, what he’s like in bed and I don’t think I’m quite ready for that level of experimentation.”

Mercury insisted that she could have asked questions before, having little to no boundaries about the subject matter. She asked if she had considered anyone else but then opted to just bring up the list that she had. Before Patricia could even question the existence of such a list, Mercury summoned a tablet for her. She took it and sat herself up on her elbows, resting the tablet on Mercury’s chest as she reached up with her other hand to grab her glasses and put them back on her face. “Excuse my language but holy shit,” Patricia replied as she scrolled the list. “You have a literal bingo card for Vandrad’s family. I knew the du Wolffs liked to play fast and loose but I had no idea they were this level of… salacious. And Vandrad knows about this and is fine with it?” Once she received confirmation, she would look even more surprised. “Is it wrong that I find myself aroused by all of this?”

If it was, she wasn’t sure she wanted to be right. “Maker I’m not surprised about; it seemed the recording we watched was leading in that direction. Blade I’m… surprised about. I figured he wouldn’t be interested in that sort of thing. I would like to know more about him; if I were to rank such things, I’d put him right under Scourge and Hosrius. I can only imagine what Agatha and Ruzatz are like; I remember that dungeon of theirs. Also call it morbid curiosity but how is Gren? I’m not personally interested in trying to juggle a father and son combo but I have always wondered how, uh… energetic he is.” She shook her head, smiling. “I know you don’t have boundaries but I’ve always been a bit more… closed off. Not quite ready to talk about these kinds of things with anyone, let alone another woman I just slept with. And now kind of want to again; can you go into very intimate details about Hosrius and Blade? Maybe uh… read it in the voice you were using before.” Patricia slid the tablet off of Mercury and sat up to straddle the woman, leaning down and starting to kiss over her neck.

Words: 1036/9064 | Tag: @Mercury Arseneault | marzia at shine & gs.

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by **Mercury Arseneault** 5th June 2023, 11:01 am

Mercury Arseneault: - - -
Lineage : Gold Rush
Position : None
Posts : 690
Cosmic Coins : 0
Dungeon Tokens : 0
Experience : 7,126,000

Character Sheet
First Skill: Gunblade Master
Second Skill: Mecha Primordial Slayer
Third Skill:

Post n°23

Re: The Truth isn't Always Clear

by Mercury Arseneault 5th June 2023, 11:01 am

Cunning is the art of concealing our own defects
and discovering other peoples' weaknesses.

Mercury could only stare as Patty revealed that she had spent several tests giving an “oral” version of the exam that she was exempt from as his teaching assistant. There were several long seconds of silence before Mercury finally told her, “So, I have an opening for an assistant at Silver Wolf that just became available…”

The conversation switched to Scourge and Hosrius, with Mercury lamenting her lack of sealing the deal with the former. She had, indeed, had some fun with him though and knew they would get around to it eventually. Hosrius, however… The Xocili could certainly sing some of the Jirian’s praises, and she did just that, highly encouraging Patty to give him a shot. Patty admitted it had more to do with his gentlemanly demeanor than anything else, though a part of her was certainly curious as a scientist. She was interested in experimenting with a few non-Earthlander individuals… though perhaps not Grubar. Grubar had been pretty up front about his sexual preferences and Patty didn’t think she was ready for that. Mercury laughed. “Yeah, you can skip that one. Don’t get me wrong, I had a great time with him, but most women can’t… handle him… if you know what I mean.” She gestured to indicate his size. “No need to risk hurting yourself.”

From there Mercury just decided to see who else Patty was interested in, more than happy to encourage turning the good doctor into as much of a slut as Mercury herself was, giving the woman a list of mutual acquaintances she’d slept with. Patricia’s eyes practically bugged out, particularly at the bingo card, earning her a huge grin from Mercury. “Well he knows I’ve slept with Themmy, Gren, Simon, and Bartrand. I’m sure he assumes that a few others have talked me into bed but I don’t think he knows that I’ve slept with almost all of them. He won’t care in the end; he’s made it very clear to me that he doesn’t care who I sleep with. But it’s fun for me to keep this up and see how many I can get through before he catches on. Seri and Mythal are my main hold outs, my white whales. Vriko wants nothing to do with me most days, but I think she’s starting to come around to me a little. I’m probably gonna have to do what I did with Vandrad and piss her off.” She chuckled a little, especially as Patty admitted how turned on she was by the knowledge.

The doctor wasn’t surprised by Maker, as that seemed fairly obvious to her, but she was surprised by Blade as it didn’t seem his type of thing. Apparently she was very interested in him, second only to Scourge and Hosrius. She admitted her imagination likely didn’t do justice to sleeping with Agatha and Ruzatz. She was morbidly curious about Gren though, the mere mention of the man’s name pulling a dramatic moan from Mercury’s lips. “Patty Cake my love, let me tell you something that I’ve told Vandrad almost every day over the last couple years: if I had met Gren first, Vandrad would never have stood a chance. Gren is hands down the best sex I’ve ever had.”

“Blade is pretty passionate, too. I had a feeling I’d sleep with him eventually, but even I was surprised when he approached me. He’s not as easy to read socially as most others, but he’s definitely got quite the libido. He’d probably be open if you approached him.” Mercury did her best not to add anything along the lines of implying that Blade might have or need more such occurrences in his life now that he was on a time limit, a thought that Mercury brushed aside for now so as not to kill the mood.

A mood that was apparently back up and running as Patty started kissing Mercury’s neck and asking her to describe in sultry detail her encounters with the two aliens. The Xocili purred. “Well then… Why don’t I start with Hosrius and tell you the story of how I met him when I was pretending to be a Rune Knight…?”

WORDS: 698/7852 | @Mythal Ragnos @Vandrad Ragnos @Serilda Sinclair